Vojtěch Kotecký is a Czech sustainability researcher who works at the Charles University
Environment Centre in Prague. He leads a small unit that focuses on integrating nature and
biodiversity agendas with business sustainability.
Dr. Kotecký has got 30 years’ experience with environmental research and advocacy. He has
been campaigns director of Hnutí DUHA (Friends of the Earth Czech Republic) for ten years.
He has held a number of advisory appointments including membership in the Government
Council for Sustainable Development. He was the deputy chair of the Commission for
Climate Action of the government’s Research, Development and Innovation Council, and sits
in the Ministry of Environment Scientific Council as well as the boards of the Nature
Conservation Agency – the Czech statutory conservation body – and České Švýcarsko
National Park. He has also served as the chair of Friends of the Earth Europe.
The author or co-author of a number of research reports and policy briefs on various
environmental and sustainability issues, Vojtěch Kotecký also wrote hundreds of popular
articles, mainly in national daily newspapers, and has shared a column in Respekt, a Czech
weekly, for nine years. In 2007, he received Minister of Environment Award “for a significant
contribution to the factual tone and scientific approaches in the public debate on
environmental protection”.
Vojtěch Kotecký graduated in biology and ecology from the Charles University in Prague, and
holds a Ph.D. in environmental studies from the same university.