Vigdis Vestreng has over 30 years of work experience in various roles related to environmental and energy sectors. Vigdis is currently a Senior Project Leader at the Norwegian Environment Agency, where they lead a bilateral project with Chinese authorities and researchers on maximizing the co-benefits of black carbon reductions. Since 2008, they have represented Norway in the work under the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2017, they took part in the negotiations for the world's first quantitative target on black carbon under the Arctic Council.
Prior to their current role, Vestreng worked as a Senior Adviser at the Norwegian Environment Agency, where they developed projects and supervised ongoing work on the Norwegian action plan for short-lived climate forcers, including black carbon. Vigdis also established the first Norwegian inventory on black carbon and served as a national focal point for IPCC.
Before joining the Norwegian Environment Agency, Vestreng worked at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute as a Researcher. In their role, they were a project leader for emission-related work in the Air Pollution section and for the European Topic Centre on Air Quality and Climatic Change project. Vigdis participated in various EU projects and published research papers on air pollutants and emission data.
Earlier in their career, Vestreng worked as a Senior Geophysicist at Deminex Norge A/S and as a Senior Consultant at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) and Norsk Hydro, Oil and Gas Division. In these roles, they focused on oil and gas exploration, seismic interpretation, well correlation, and quality control of exploration drilling activity.
Overall, Vestreng's work experience spans research, project leadership, policy development, and technical roles related to environmental and energy sectors.
Vigdis Vestreng obtained their M. Sc (Sivilingeniør) degree in Petroleum Engineering and Applied Geophysics from The Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) from 1982 to 1986. Vigdis then pursued their education at the University of Oslo (UiO) from 1997 to 2008, earning a Dr. Scient degree in European air pollution emission trends – review, validation, and application.
January, 2020 - present