Leena
YLÄ-MONONEN

Leena Ylä-Mononen is the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency since 1 June 2023. She was born in Pohjaslahti, Finland in 1963. Ms Ylä-Mononen has a master’s degree in environmental sciences from Helsinki University, specialising in ecotoxicology and chemicals risk assessment and management.

Before joining the European Environment Agency, she was Director General at the Ministry of Environment of Finland. She managed the Climate and Environmental Protection Department, dealing with environmental policy issues and EU files related to climate change, air pollution, industrial pollution, circular economy, sustainable consumption and production, waste management and the prevention of environmental risks from chemicals.

Before joining the Ministry in 2019, Ms Ylä-Mononen worked for over 11 years in management positions in the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki. Before joining ECHA in 2007, she worked in the European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment, on policy files related to chemicals and pesticides.

Earlier in her career she worked in the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) on environmental risk assessment and management of industrial chemicals, biocides and pesticides.

Throughout her career, Ms Ylä-Mononen has been involved in international cooperation at the Nordic, European, OECD and global levels, and in the negotiations and implementation of multilateral environmental agreements on chemicals, waste and climate change.

Ms Ylä-Mononen speaks fluent English, in addition to her native Finnish, and has working level skills in French and Swedish. She enjoys nature, visual arts, literature and history.