Dr. Ikechukwu Mbachu has nearly two-decades-long experience working on international/national developmental projects and programs that focused on natural resource management, environmental protection, and sustainability, circular economy and material utilization, cleaner production, energy efficiency, waste minimization, pollution/contamination management, climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Before joining Circular Economy and Cleaner Production Hub (CECP Hub – Nigeria) as Managing Director,  he has given consulting/advisory services to national and international development organizations including globally recognized environmental management firms and academic institutions such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), World Bank, GIZ, UNDP, and GFA Consulting Group with which he has implemented diverse environmental and industrial development projects on climate change mitigation and adaptation, cleaner production, and resource efficiency (RECP), water resource planning and management.

For UNIDO, he carried out in-depth research and analysis of several national environmental policies, coastal waters pollution prevention, and management regulations documents with a specific focus on mining and chemical industries in the 16 Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem (GCLME) countries. He also carried out on-site cleaner production assessments (CPAs) of water, materials, and chemicals usage at selected industries in different sectors such as steel, textile, wood, food, and beverage, petroleum, and mining which provide an in-depth situational report of the industries level of adherence to Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) and Industrial Energy Efficiency (IEE) methodologies.

As Deputy Chief of Party (for a World Bank-sponsored project), Dr. Mbachu carried out socio-economic surveys concerning the regulatory frameworks of the mining industry in Nigeria and led a team in designing and developing relevant capacity-building training programs for project beneficiaries selected government staff.

He holds a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Science from the Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany.

Michael Fegerl’s expertise spans over three decades of professional and hands-on experience in Industrial Resource Efficiency. As an experienced specialist and auditor as per ISO 14001, ISO 5001, ISO 9001, and the European Union’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), he has carried out countless cleaner production assessments in leading manufacturing companies in Africa, Europe, and Asia regions.

In 1992, he founded a management consulting firm focused on production optimization and environmental sustainability within the manufacturing and processing industrial subsectors with the overall aim of providing innovative solutions on issues regarding resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP), process-based material flow accounting (MFA), life cycle assessment (LCA), circular economy (CE), environmental management system (EMS) and energy management system (EnMS).

Between 2015 and 2019, as a consulting expert for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) Environment Department, he supervised the Knowledge Management System (KMS) for the RECPnet network, which is active in 65 countries around the world and whose members are the National Cleaner Production Center (NCPCs). The primary objective of RECPnet is to contribute to the effective and efficient development, application, adaptation, scaling up, and mainstreaming of RECP concepts, methods, policies, practices, and technologies in developing and transition economies. Michael still works on harmonizing the exchange of technical know-how amongst NCPCs and facilitates the possibilities of regional cooperation for “South-South Cooperation”.

Michael has vast experience in process analysis, optimization, and innovation with a special emphasis on resource-efficient and cleaner production RECP, energy efficiency, implementation of environmental and energy management systems (according to ISO 14001 and 50001, legal advice (permitting, legal compliance), sectoral environmental assessment guidelines and benchmarking for the following industrial sectors: Iron and Steel production, metal processing, aluminum, mining, industrial minerals, chemical industry, production of Vinyl Chloride Monomer – Polyvinyl Chloride (VCM-PVC), plastic processing, wood chipboard processing, food processing, and beverages, and textile.

Michael holds an M.Sc. degree in Process Engineering from the University of Technology, Graz, Austria.