Delivering the energy transition: pace over perfection - Speakers

Chris Stark is Head of ‘Mission Control’ for Clean Power 2030, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Chris Stark was chief executive of the Climate Change Committee from April 2018 for 6 years. Under his leadership the committee recommended a UK net zero target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 – a target that is now in law.  He was Director of Energy and Climate Change in the Scottish Government from May 2016 to April 2018.

He has served as chief executive of the Carbon Trust, and is currently Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Public Policy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and on the board of climate charity Murmer.

Rebecca is passionate about people, decarbonisation, energy and infrastructure.

Rebecca started her energy journey at E.ON working in energy trading, portfolio strategy and subsequently in international roles on strategic business transformation projects.

Joining EDF in 2011, she went on to lead the B2B business, delivering notable growth in emerging market areas, such renewable PPAs and in 2020, stepping up as UK Director of Policy and Strategy, representing Retail, Nuclear and Renewables.

In 2022, Rebecca joined the NGV Interconnectors business as Commercial, Customer and Regulation Director, responsible for strategy, policy, regulation and commercial optimisation of the interconnectors. In 2023, Rebecca became Managing Director of the end-to-end interconnectors business.

Rebecca sits on the UK ESO Markets Council, is a Fellow of the Energy Institute and a Founder of the Women’s Utility Network (WUN), which has over 4400 members. Having three young children, she spends her free time cooking, travelling and endlessly tidying up toys.

Louise is the Chief Economist at the CBI and a member of its Executive Committee. She and her team provide business leaders with advice on the UK economic outlook and global risks. Building on the insights from members, she shapes the CBI’s overall view on economic and fiscal policy and leads the CBI’s discussions with senior politicians and policymakers in these areas. Louise also oversees the CBI’s economic consultancy business CBI Economics.

Before moving into the role Louise was the Director of Economic Policy at the CBI. She led the CBI’s policy work on tax and regulation, as well as developing the CBI’s strategy and evidence base for enhancing the competitiveness of the UK’s business environment. Prior to joining the CBI, Louise spent 13 years at HM Treasury as a member of the Government Economic Service, where she led on a number of different analytical and policy issues, including National Living Wage policy and assessing the economic and distributional impacts of policy measures at fiscal events.

Louise holds an MSc in Economics from the University of Bristol and studied Economics and International Development at Bath University.

James Richardson has been Director of Analysis at the Climate Change Committee since July 2023 and is currently Acting Chief Executive.

From 2016 to July 2023, he was Chief Economist at the National Infrastructure Commission, where he led on production of the UK’s first ever National Infrastructure Assessment, an in-depth assessment of the UK’s major infrastructure needs on a 30-year time horizon. He led net zero related work for the Commission’s second National Infrastructure Assessment, due to be published 18 October 2023.

Prior to this, James was Director, Fiscal and Deputy Chief Economic Adviser at HM Treasury from July 2012 to March 2016 and Director, Public Spending and Chief Microeconomist at HM Treasury from September 2008 to July 2012.

Simon Maine is a Managing Director in Brookfield’s Corporate Communications Group. In this role, he is responsible for the development and execution of strategic communications plans in Europe, as well as for the Renewable Power & Transition Group globally.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2022, Mr. Maine was director of corporate affairs for OVO and a partner at Brunswick Group.

Mr. Maine holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Oxford.

Estelle Dehon KC is a leading public law barrister, who took silk in 2022. She has particular expertise in environment and climate change, net zero, energy infrastructure and just transition. She is at the forefront of climate litigation in the UK: she represented the successful appellant in the Supreme Court in Finch, the leading case on scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, and in the recent successful High Court challenge to the Cumbria coal mine. Next year she will argue the  challenge to the UK’s aviation climate strategy.

In 2023 Estelle founded the cross-disciplinary centre of excellence for climate litigation and advice, Cornerstone Climate. She won a Global Climate Leadership award at COP27 and is co-Chair of the Bar Council’s Climate Crisis Working Group.

The Hydrogen and Industrial Carbon Capture Directorate leads on the hydrogen economy programme for the UK government. The directorate is responsible for policies on low carbon hydrogen production and demand as well as transport and storage to deliver on the hydrogen ambitions in the British Energy Security Strategy. The directorate is also jointly responsible for the delivery of the CCUS programme, leading on CCUS enabled Hydrogen and Industrial Carbon Capture.

Paro spent most of her career in the civil service working on Energy Policy. An analyst by background, Paro has worked on electricity and gas markets, leading analytical teams to develop the evidence base for the Electricity Market Reform, Capacity Market, Low Carbon Auctions as well as developing the evidence base for large infrastructure policies such as new nuclear investment in the UK, and received an OBE in recognition for her contribution to energy analysis. More recently was director for Industrial Energy responsible for standing up and delivering the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the Industrial decarbonisation strategy.

Guy Buckenham has over forty years’ experience in the electricity industry, working in a wide variety of roles with the CEGB, London Electricity and EDF.  He has been closely involved in many of the major changes in electricity market arrangements over that time and he led EDF’s involvement in the Electricity Market Reform programme.  In his current role, he works on a range of policy issues related to the net zero transition and the design of electricity markets.

Guy has a degree in Mathematics and is a Certified Accountant.

Emma Pinchbeck is the Chief Executive of Energy UK, a position that she has held since July 2020. She is an expert in whole-economy decarbonisation and the energy transition. She also holds several board advisory positions. Emma has two children and shares childcare with her husband. She is passionate about efforts to improve diversity in the energy industry.

From 2016-2020, she served as Deputy CEO of the trade body Renewable UK, in which role she also sat on the Board of Scottish Renewables. Prior to this, Emma was Head of Climate Change at WWFU-K. She has an MA from the University of Oxford.

Giles provides advice on UK political and policy matters related to industrial strategy, competition and regulatory concerns.

In the two and a half years before joining Flint, Giles was a Special Adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May covering industrial strategy, consumer and competition policy, energy and transport and general economic issues. He had played a similar role as Special Adviser to Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills for four years in the coalition government. In between these posts he spent two years writing editorial and the Lex column for the Financial Times, covering politics, economics and business policy.

Before moving into policy roles, Giles spent ten years in a variety of roles at IG Group, the spreadbetting and financial derivatives specialist and completed Masters courses in Economic History and Business Administration.

Mike is Chief Economist at National Grid ESO, soon to be the National Energy System Operator. He is also Chair of BIEE. Previously, Mike was Director in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice and Chief Economist and Director of Analysis at the Climate Change Committee, the UK’s independent statutory climate adviser. Mike led the CCC analytical team in developing the CCC’s advice on Net Zero, the Sixth Carbon Budget, the actions and policies required to deliver it, and the framework for tracking and monitoring progress. He also oversaw the CCC’s adaptation analysis.

Having spent his career telling stories with evidence, Mike is a firm believer in the power of analysis to make the world a better place.

Leen Dickx specializes in the economics of utility markets and regulation, advising clients in energy, transport, and telecommunications sectors across Europe. Her works spans regulatory, advisory, and competition policy, as well as arbitration and litigation, due diligence, and valuation.

Most of her work focuses on supporting regulated utilities and infrastructure companies during price control reviews, especially in the areas of regulatory design, cost assessment and benchmarking, valuation and willingness-to-pay studies, incentive design, and regulatory finance issues. She also advises investors on regulatory due diligence assignments in the energy, water, and transport sectors across a wide variety of geographies, including the UK, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.

Her work also involves economic assessment of issues arising in the context of international arbitrations and commercial disputes in the energy sector, including matters before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and private enforcement procedures before the administrative courts in Italy and the UK.

Prior to joining NERA, Ms. Dickx worked at Eni in Rome and carried out research at the Centre for Research on Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (IEFE) of Bocconi University. Ms. Dickx holds a double degree MSc in economics and social sciences from Bocconi University and MGIMO University and a BSc in business administration and management from Bocconi University.

Rachel joined Octopus Energy in 2021, bringing with her a wealth of knowledge following more than two decades of experience in energy regulation.

Rachel’s remit is to create the regulations and markets needed to achieve net zero quickly and affordably. Day-to-day, she works closely with regulators, industry bodies and policy makers to shape the energy system of the future. Rachel also works hand-in-hand with consumer bodies to ensure all customers are well served and benefit from the transition to net zero.

Before joining Octopus, Rachel served as the Chief Executive of Ofwat, the UK’s water regulator, and as a Senior Partner and Board member of Ofgem, the UK energy regulator. Her work focused on making essential services sustainable, high quality and affordable. Rachel started her career in utilities as a consultant where she worked on a number of international energy industry privatisation and restructuring projects. Rachel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Sussex, as well as a Masters in Economic and Politics from the University of Cambridge.

Gavin Knott is the Chief Economic Adviser at Ofgem, and works on both price control regulation and on using economic analysis to understand how the competitive energy markets act in the consumer interest. Gavin has over 15 years experience working in competition and regulation across the UK’s infrastructure sectors, working as a regulator and in the private sector. Gavin also has a PhD in real option theory.

Mallika is Shell’s Chief Economist. She advises on economic, energy and climate policies to shape Shell’s long-term scenarios. She leads strategic engagements on energy transitions with national and city governments across the world, notably a multi-year collaboration with the Chinese government. Mallika also helps shape Shell’s policy and advocacy on the energy transition to support the company’s decarbonisation strategy. She sits on a range of external advisory boards.

Before joining Shell, she was Deputy Director at the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, responsible for evidence and analysis across the environment, food and green economy portfolio. She has held senior positions in the UK government, including at the Cabinet Office as Head of Policy Analysis for the 2009 G20 London Summit. Before that, Mallika worked in senior economics and policy roles in the USA.

Mallika holds PhD and MS degrees in Economics from Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and a BA from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, India.

Prof. Rob Gross took over as Director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) in March 2020. He has been involved with UKERC since its inception, as a Co-Director leading the Technology and Policy Assessment theme. He has wide-ranging research management expertise and has made a substantive contribution to UK energy policy development, acting as advisor to Select Committees, preparing reports and chairing committees for Government departments and non-departmental public bodies, and as a consultant. He was seconded to the Cabinet Office in the early 2000s and contributed to the Blair Government Energy Review. He has published extensively on energy policy and technology.

Rob has extensive teaching experience at masters and PhD level. He has been an invited speaker at a wide range of conferences and forums in the UK and overseas and makes regular contributions to the popular debate surrounding energy, in the mainstream press, online and in TV and radio appearances. In 2014 Gross was Chair of the Council of the BIEE.