Nora Sophie Griefahn
Co-Founder and Executive Director of Cradle to Cradle NGO
Nora Sophie Griefahn studied environmental sciences and engineering at Leuphana University Lüneburg and Technische Universität (TU) Berlin, among other institutions, and was a fellow of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. As co-founder, she has been building the nonprofit Cradle to Cradle NGO since 2012 and leads it as Executive Director, overseeing its scientific and policy work. On TV programs such as ZDF's “The Green Garage” and ProSieben's “Zervakis & Opdenhövel. Live.,” she makes Cradle to Cradle accessible to a broad audience. Among other roles, she contributes at the EU level to the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform in the area of the circular bioeconomy and she is a member of the Kofi Annan Foundation's Accountability Hub Europe. She teaches at TU Berlin, where she also serves on the Council for Sustainable Development, and is a member of the jury of the German Sustainability Award.
During their residency at the Thomas Mann House, Nora Sophie Griefahn and Tim Janßen will explore new ways to transform the narrative of sustainability from a story of sacrifice into a declaration of love for the future – one that not only changes our products but also strengthens social cohesion.
Selected Awards
2026 | Social Enterprise Award of the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises
2025 | “Women of the Future – 50 Rising Stars in ESG,” United Kingdom
2018 | “GreenBiz 30 Under 30,” Trellis Group, USA
Selected Publications
2023 | “Datenregulierung für die Kreislaufwirtschaft.” In: Tagesspiegel Background, September 4.
https://background.tagesspiegel.de/digitalisierung-und-ki/briefing/datenregulierung-fuer-die-kreislaufwirtschaft
2023 | “Vom Ursprung zum Ursprung zurück.” In: Neue Gesellschaft / Frankfurter Hefte 5/23.
https://www.frankfurter-hefte.de/ausgabe/klima-und-klasse/
2022 | “Cradle to Cradle: Why We Need to Rethink the Way We Produce.” In: Journal of Business Chemistry, October.
https://www.businesschemistry.org/article/cradle-to-cradle-why-we-need-to-rethink-the-way-we-produce/