Assunção Cristas
ESGs, Sustainability and Law and the Sea
Professor Assunção Cristas is Associate Professor at NOVA School of Law (PhD 2005), where she coordinates the Master’s Degree in Law and Economics of the Sea – Ocean Governance, and is Director of the NOVA Ocean Knowledge Centre. Besides lecturing Ocean Policies at the Master’s degree, Assunção Cristas is professor of Introduction to Law and Law and Sustainability at the undergraduate level. Assunção Cristas is a also a lawyer at VdA law firm where is responsable for the ESG Integrated Services Platform and the Environment, Ocean and Agriculture Practice Area. Between 2009 and 2021 Assunção Cristas hold several political positions: she was Minister of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning (2011-2013) and Minister of Agriculture and Sea (2013-2015); Member of Parliament (2009-2011 and 2015-2020); President of CDS-PP political Party; Councilwoman at the Lisbon Municipality (2017-2021). As Minister, Assunção Cristas was responsible, namely, for the development of important legislation and public policies focused on the marine environment, such as the Portuguese legal framework on maritime spatial planning and management, and the National Strategy of the Sea 2013-2020, represented Portugal at several Climate Change CoPs and other international conferences, and negotiated the common agricultural policy reform.