About

 The Independent Directors Association "AAI" is a leading network of Administrators and Board Directors in Romania, and is the Romanian representative of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and the European Confederation of Directors Associations (ecoDa).

 Founded in 2021 and hosted by The Independent Directors Association AAI, Chapter Zero Romania is the Romanian Chapter of the Climate Governance Initiative, a project in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.

 AAI and Chapter Zero Romania aim to mobilize the Board Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) of Romanian companies to promote the implementation of the World Economic Forum's Principles for Effective Climate Governance in the companies they serve, to transition to a low carbon economy from a corporate governance perspective and achieve the EU's target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

 All sectors will be impacted by the transition to lower carbon business models, and the role of the Boards of Directors is crucial in addressing the challenges arising from climate change.

Chapter Zero Romania aims to:

• increase the awareness of the Board Directors about their responsibility in relation to climate change impact;
• equip its members with knowledge of climate change implications, allowing them to design effective strategies for the climate transition to a net-zero economy;
• encourage informed debate responses to the climate challenge in the boardroom
• ensure that climate-related factors are considered in all Board decisions, improving their companies’ resilience.

Patron Chairs

Chapter Zero Romania is supported by chairs of leading organisations who recognise the massive challenge climate change poses to Romanian businesses.

Ramona Jurubiță
President KPMG Romania

Ramona Jurubiță

Ms. Jurubita is Country Managing Partner of KPMG in Romania, one of the largest consultancy firms on the Romanian market, offering Audit, Tax and Advisory services to Romanian and international clients, and heads the KPMG Impact initiative in Romania, the accelerator for KPMG's global ESG strategy. Her background is in Tax and the law, and she headed KPMG’s Tax and Legal department before becoming Country Managing Partner. Ms. Jurubita has detailed expertise in particular on tax and legal matters, but also on a whole range of issues affecting business, drawing on her regular contact with KPMG clients from many sectors and on the expertise of her colleagues in one of the largest consultancy firms on the Romanian market. She heads the KPMG Impact initiative in Romania and she is also part of the KPMG CEE Impact Plan. She is a member of several of the most important Romanian and international professional associations (CCF, CECCAR, ANEVAR, ACCA).
Ms. Jurubita is active in efforts to promote a strong economic and social environment in Romania in which businesses can grow and individuals can achieve their potential. She is Vice President of the Board of the Foreign Investors Council, which advocates for policies promoting sustainable growth, a Board Member of United Way Romania, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of Bucharest University. She is keen to support strong public services, such as education, environment and healthcare, and encourages KPMG staff to participate in community projects.
Ms. Jurubita has several prestigious academic qualifications and is one of the most influential Romanian business women, as recognized by leading business publications, including Forbes and Business Magazine.

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Sorana Baciu
Founder Chapter Zero Romania

Sorana Baciu

Sorana Baciu is an independent director and international consultant with extensive knowledge in policy formulation, strategy development, change management, and corporate governance. She has over twenty years of experience in senior positions in the private and public sectors. As Managing Partner of Acgenio, a consulting firm, her expertise is regularly sought out by international institutions such as the World Bank and EBRD.
Since 2015 Ms. Baciu has served as a non-executive director on the boards of both public and private companies, such as Alpha Bank Romania, Idea Leasing, SNGN Romgaz SA, and IAR SA.
Ms. Baciu was State Secretary with the Ministry of Economy (2015-2016) and the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (2016-2017) and was responsible for the Industrial Policy, Competitiveness and Corporate Governance for SOEs. Sorana Baciu also headed the Inter-ministerial Committee for the accession of Romania to OECD (2016-2017).
In the last ten years, Sorana actively promoted corporate governance standards in both public and private businesses in Romania and the CEE region. From 2017 to 2021, she has been the president of the Association of Independent Administrators in Romania, whose mission is to promote corporate governance for business excellence, and member of the Board of ecoDa (European Confederation of Directors Associations).

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Radu Hanga
Bucharest Stock Exchange Chairman of the Board of Governors

Radu Hanga

Bucharest Stock Exchange Chairman of the Board of Governors

Radu Hanga is the Chairman of the Board of Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) since 2020. Prior, between 2017 and 2020, he was member of BVBs’ Board of Governors. From 2020 until 2022, he was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Asset Managers in Romania (AAF). Before, between 2015 and 2020, Mr. Hanga was President of AAF. He has an extensive experience in the financial markets and followed the Strategy Execution Programme (INSEAD), the MBA Program (IDE), postgraduate studies in Business Administration (European Institute for Business Administration UBB), specialization in International Financial System (IBR in partnership with Chartered Institute of Bankers Scotland), Erasmus Program (University of East London).
Mr. Hanga started his career in the financial markets in 1997, as analyst at the brokerage company SSIF Broker (BRK), and in 1999 he joined Banca Transilvania’s team (TLV), as Capital market officer (1999 - 2002). He held more positions in Banca Transilvania group of companies, among which Vice-President of the Board of Directors of BT Securities (2001-2005), Head of Capital Market Department at Banca Transilvania (2002-2013), CEO of SAI BT Asset Management (2005-2013), Strategy Executive Officer-Group Coordination of Banca Transilvania (2013-2017) and Senior Advisor for the Board of Directors of Banca Transilvania (2017-2020). Mr. Hanga was member of the Board of Directors of other listed companies such as Boromir Prod (2013 – 2017), SIF Moldova (2013 - 2017) and SIF Oltenia (2017 - 2020).

Short version:
Radu Hanga is the Chairman of the Board of Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) since 2020. He has over 25 years of experience in the financial markets, holding several positions on the Boards of Directors of listed companies, as well as being between 2015 and 2020 President of the Association of Asset Managers in Romania.

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WEF Principles

 It is important for Board Directors to understand what are their responsibilities to shareholders and other stakeholders in relation to the climate change issues, and to act with care and diligence in identifying the potential risks their company is exposed to.

 The Board Directors may expose themselves to legal actions if they fail to identify, respond or disclose material climate risks. In order to protect the Board Directors by teaching them to do the right thing, the World Economic Forum published useful guidance to Boards, consisting in a set of principles summarised and explained below ( extract lifted from KPMG's website):

Principle 1 - Climate accountability on boards
The board of directors should take responsibility for ensuring that the company adapts to long-term climate change.

Principle 2 - Command of the (climate) subject
Board members must ensure that they have the necessary knowledge to understand the risks and opportunities of climate change so that they can have effective debates and make informed decisions.

Principle 3 - Board structure
The board of directors should implement an appropriate structure of its committees to ensure that climate change risks and opportunities are known, understood, managed and reported.

Principle 4 - Material risk and opportunity assessment
The board of directors should ensure that the company's management identifies the risks of the effects of climate change in the short, medium and long term, assesses them financially and takes measures commensurate with the material value of the effects of climate change on the company.

Principle 5 - Strategic and organizational integration
The board of directors should ensure that management incorporates the material risks and opportunities of climate change into the company's strategy, risk management processes and investment decisions.

Principle 6 - Incentivization
The board of directors should align the executive management's motivational packages with the company's long-term success, which could mean including climate-related objectives in the executive management's motivational packages.

Principle 7 – Reporting and disclosure
The board of directors should ensure that material climate risks, opportunities and strategic decisions are disclosed to all stakeholders - in particular investors and regulators, and that they are also included in the financial reporting.

Principle 8 - Exchange
The board of directors should be kept informed of best practices in climate governance through a sustained dialogue with other industry professionals, regulators, investors and other stakeholders.

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Climate Governance Initiative

Established by the World Economic Forum in 2019 and hosted by Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, the Climate Governance Initiative (CGI) supports the growth of groups of board directors around the world to form networks, known as Chapters.

The core mission of the Chapters is to promote the implementation of the Principles for Effective Climate Governance published by the World Economic Forum in 2019 by mobilising, educating and equipping non-executive director members with the skills and knowledge necessary to address climate change at board level.

Chapters commit to upholding the Charter, develop climate governance-related content and host expert-led sessions to inform, share experiences and facilitate co-operation. The CGI Chapters and other members of the CGI Community commit to working with each other within their respective countries as well as across borders to share knowledge.

Charter of the Climate Governance Initiative     Climate Governance Initiative

Chapters of the Climate Governance Initiative

• Chapter Zero, the UK Chapter
• Climate Governance Initiative Australia
• Chapter Zero Brazil
• Chapter Zero Brussels
• Chapter Zero Canada
• Climate Governance Initiative Central America &Caribbean
• Chapter Zero Chile
• Chapter Zero France
• Climate Governance Initiative Germany - German Council for Sustainable Development (RNE)
• Chapter Zero Egypt
• Climate Governance Initiative Greece
• Climate Governance Initiative Hong Kong
• Chapter Zero Italy
• Chapter Zero Ireland
• Climate Governance Malaysia

• Climate Governance Initiative Mauritius
• Chapter Zero Mexico
• Chapter Zero Netherlands
• Chapter Zero New Zealand
• Nordic Boards Impact Forum
• Chapter Zero Poland
• Chapter Zero Romania
• Climate Governance Singapore
• Chapter Zero Slovenia
• Chapter Zero Southern Africa
• Chapter Zero Switzerland
• Chapter Zero Türkiye
• Chapter Zero Ukraine & Caucasus
• US Climate Initiative - NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors)
• Chapter Zero Uzbekistan