Beate Weber is the former Mayor of the German city of Heidelberg. While she was Mayor Heidelberg received the European Sustainable City Award in 1997 and 2003. Prior to this she was a Social Democrat member of the European Parliament, where she chaired the committee on environment, health and consumer protection. She has been a member of the Global Independent Commission on Population and Quality of Life and is a founding member of EUROSOLAR, the European Association for Renewable Energy.