On Wednesday 12 April 2023 (9:00-12:30 CET), the IBERDROLA Manuel Marín Chair for European Energy and Climate Policy organised its annual conference entitled “The Fast and the furious: Speeding up the green transition”. The conference was composed of two modules, preceded by an opening address by Mark Jacobson (Professor at Stanford University) and Chairholder Dirk Buschle.
The first module was entitled “Renewables at full speed – what are the possibilities?”, and discussed the nexus of the climate and environment urgencies, in particular in relation to expedited renewables permitting and the environment. It explored the question of how fast the expedited deployment of renewables can go, and which challenges need to be met regarding the energy system, biodiversity and social acceptance.
The module was opened by European Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius and CEO of Iberdrola Armando Martínez. This was followed by a panel debate with Catharina Sikow-Magny (Director Green Transition and Energy System Integration, DG ENER), Sonya Twohig (Secretary General, ENTSO-E), Noor Yafai (Europe Director Global Policy and Institutional Partnerships, The Nature Conservancy) and Teresa Haukkala (Research Fellow at Ecole Polytechnique, Paris)
The second module covered net-zero industry and the EU’s announcements on the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP). How does the GDIP fit in the multipolar economy of today? How should we evaluate the Commission’s proposal of the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA)? How can the institutions best move forward to guarantee the competitiveness of EU companies in the race to net zero?
Belgian Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten introduced the module with a keynote speech entitled 'The energy crisis as a catalyst for the energy transition: A Belgian perspective'. This was followed by a panel discussion with Olivier Dufour (Co-Founder, People & Stakeholder Engagement, Verkor), Judith Kirton-Darling (Deputy Secretary-General, IndustriAll) and Manon Dufour (Head of Brussels Office, E3G).
The full programme is available here.
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For more information, please contact Thijs VANDENBUSSCHE