Maria da Graça Carvalho

Maria da Graça Carvalho
Graça Carvalho in 2019
Minister of the Environment and Energy
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 April 2024
Prime Minister	Luís Montenegro
Preceded by	Duarte Cordeiro
Member of the European Parliament for Portugal
In office 2 July 2019 – 1 April 2024
Succeeded by	Vânia Neto
In office 14 July 2009 – 1 July 2014
Ministry of Science and Higher Education
In office 6 October 2003 – 12 March 2005
Prime Minister	José Manuel Barroso Pedro Santana Lopes
Preceded by	Pedro Lynce
Succeeded by	Mariano Gago
Personal details
Born	(1955-04-09) 9 April 1955 (age 69) Beja, Portugal
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Alma mater	Instituto Superior Técnico
Occupation	Mechanical engineer • Politician
Website	Personal Profile

Maria da Graça Martins da Silva Carvalho (born 9 April 1955) is a Portuguese professor, engineer, and politician of the Social Democratic Party who has been serving as Minister of Environment and Energy in the government of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro since 2024.^[1][2]

She was a member of the European Parliament in the 2019-2024 term, having held office in the 2009-2014 legislature.^[3]

Early life and education

Carvalho has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon and a Ph.D. from the Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine in the United Kingdom.

Early career

Carvalho was a professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, in the area of energy, environment, climate change and sustainable development.^[4]

Career in national politics

From 2003 to 2005, Carvalho was a member of Portugal's government, first as Minister of Science and Higher Education and later as the Minister of Science, Innovation and Higher Education in the cabinets of successive prime ministers José Manuel Barroso (2003–2004) and Pedro Santana Lopes (2004–2005).

Career in the European Commission

Carvalho acted as adviser to Durão Barroso in his capacity as President of the European Commission from 2006 to 2009.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–2014

In 2009, Carvalho was elected Member of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic Party, a position she held until 2014.

Carvalho first served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014 as a representative of Portugal's Social Democratic Party (PSD). She was a member of the Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). In this capacity, she was also the Parliament's rapporteur on the Horizon 2020 research framework program (2014–2020). In addition to her committee assignments, she was a member of the Parliament's delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Return to the European Commission

From November 2014 until December 2015, Carvalho served as an adviser to European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas. She later moved as a staff member to the Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, until 2019.

Member of the European Parliament, 2019–2024

In 2019, Carvalho was again elected to the European Parliament for the 9th parliamentary term (2019-2024).

Graça Carvalho at Imperial College as a Ph.D. student (1978).

Long-term friends Carvalho and Barroso during a 2022 visit to Florence.

She integrated the European People’s Party (EPP) group. She was Vice-President of the Committee on Fisheries (PECH). She was a full member of the Industry, Research, and Energy Committee (ITRE) where she was elected Vice Coordinator for the EPP Group. She was a full member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA), and the Delegation for Relations with the United States of America. She was an alternate member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), the Delegation for Relations with the countries of Central America, the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, and the Delegation for Relations with the countries of Central Asia.

With the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen (2023)

In the mandate in the European Parliament (2019-2024), she was rapporteur for the Strategic Programme of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the Single Basic Act covering nine partnerships with industry under the Horizon Europe framework program, the European Partnership for High-Performance Computing and the opinions on the New European Industrial Strategy and the Data Regulation, among others. She was the lead rapporteur for the Regulation on the Protection of the Union against manipulating the wholesale energy market (REMIT).^[5] In addition, she was the EPP negotiator of the European Electricity Market Design.^[6]

In her activity in this legislature, she had been committed to gender equality issues, having been a negotiator for the European People's Party Group regarding the directive on the participation of women on the boards of directors of listed companies (Women on Boards) and rapporteur, for the FEMM committee, of the report on the Digital Divide between Men and Women, in addition to being involved in several actions aimed at promoting gender equality in all sectors of society.^[7]

Return to national politics

Graça Carvalho and Aung San Suu Kyi during the Women´s Forum Myanmar 2013

On April 1, 2024 she resigned as an MEP to become Minister of Environment and Energy in the government of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.^[8]

Other activities

• European Network of European Foundations, Advisory Board (since 2023)^[9]

  

  Carvalho and Metsola in May 2023.

• Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, Member of the Executive Board ^[10]
• Instituto Francisco Sá Carneiro, Chair of the Board of Directors (since 2020)^[11]
• Re-Imagine Europa, Member of the Task Force on Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation (since 2020)^[12]
• International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Member of the International Scientific Committee^[13]

Recognition

On 8 March 2002, on International Women's Day, Carvalho was decorated with the rank of Grand Officer of the Order of Public Instruction by Jorge Sampaio. She was made a Member of the Council of the Orders of Civil Merit on 9 June 2016.

Carvalho is also the recipient of the following awards:^[14]

• 2022 - Winner of the award for the best Member of the European Parliament in the Future of the EU and Innovation category at The Parliament Magazine's annual MEP Awards^[15][16]
• 2021 – Femina Prize of Honour
• 2016 – Prize Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo, a career prize to honor outstanding women scientists and engineers
• 2016 – IUMRS International Union of Materials Research Societies Global Leadership and Service Award
• 2012 – Medal of Merit of the City of Beja
• 2011 – Prize for the best Member of the European Parliament in the area of Research and Innovation
• 2008 – CIRCE Prize, CIRCE Foundation, Saragossa
• 2005 – Portuguese Great Cross-Chancellery of the International Order of Merit of the Discoverer of Brazil

References

1. "Zero destaca "conhecimento profundo" da nova ministra do Ambiente das políticas de energia". Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-03-30.
2. "Maria da Graça Carvalho é ministra pela 3.ª vez, agora no Ambiente e Energia". Jornal de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-03-30.
3. "Home | Maria da Graça CARVALHO | MEPs | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
4. Brito, Ana (2024-03-28). "Maria da Graça Carvalho, a eurodeputada que vai liderar Ambiente e Energia". PÚBLICO (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-03-30.
5. "Reports - as shadow rapporteur". European Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
6. "EU Parliament clinches political deal on electricity market reform". Euroactiv. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
7. "Maria da Graça Carvalho stresses the importance of women as "agents of change" in the energy transition". EPP. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
8. "As sete ministras do novo Governo". CNN Portugal (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-04-15.
9. "Advisory Board". ENoP. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
10. "Executive Board". Martens Center. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
11. Governance Instituto Francisco Sá Carneiro.
12. Re-Imagine Europa announces Task Force on “Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation” Re-Imagine Europa, press release of November 25, 2020.
13. International Scientific Committee International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems.
14. "Maria da Graça Carvalho". The Academy of Europe. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
15. "MEP Awards: Winners 2022". The Parliament Magazine. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
16. "Maria da Graça Carvalho vence o Prémio MEP 2022 na categoria de Futuro da UE e Inovação". Centro de Informação Europeia Jacques Delors. Retrieved 11 July 2023.