XX CONFERENCE OF THE SPANISH ASSOCIATION FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS

Stefan Lechtenböhmer holds the Chair of Sustainable Technology Design at the University of Kassel, Germany, and is co-director of the Kassel Institute for Sustainability. His research and teaching focus on the sustainable transformation of industry and energy systems, with an emphasis on the heavy materials industry.

Stefan is Associate Professor for Future Sustainable Energy Systems at Lund University, Sweden. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Environment Agency and member of the steering group of the G7 Low Carbon Society Research Network. From 1994 to 2023 he worked at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, since 2010 as Director of the Department Future Energy and Industrial Systems. From 2018 to 2023 he was scientific director and founder of the initiative SCI4climate. NRW, which is part of the initiative IN4climate. NRW.

Stefan holds a diploma in geography from the University of Münster and a PhD in economics from the University of Flensburg.

Cristina Rivero Fernández holds a degree in Biological Sciences and a master’s degree in Environmental Assessment and Auditing. She has built her career in the fields of energy, environment, and climate change within the Spanish Association of the Electricity Industry.
Throughout her career, she has represented the Spanish electricity sector in European organizations such as Eurelectric and currently represents the private sector at BusinessEurope, focusing on industrial, energy, climate, and environmental policies.

At the international level, she has collaborated with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the Regional Energy Integration Commission (CIER), and the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE). Additionally, she is a private sector observer at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and has participated in the COP conferences since 2001.

Currently, she leads the Industry, Energy, Environment, and Climate Department at the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE). She has also been a member of the European Platform for Sustainable Finance and currently represents BusinessEurope on the European Commission’s Biodiversity Platform. In 2022, she was awarded the National Environmental Award for Climate Action and Civic Engagement.

I am a Professor of Industrial Organization at the ICAI School of Engineering, director of the bp Chair for a Sustainable Net Zero, and co-founder and director of Economics for Energy. I am also a researcher at the Institute for Research in Technology (IIT). In addition, I serve as an Associate Researcher at MIT CEEPR and at the Energy Policy Research Group (EPRG) at the University of Cambridge, as well as Senior Fellow at Esade EcPol. Currently, I serve as Director of the International Doctoral School at Comillas Pontifical University, and as Editor-in-Chief of Papeles de Energía and The Energy Journal.

As for my teaching and research, I like to describe myself as a jack-of-all-trades learner (accepting, of course, the downside that comes with it). I am interested in many topics, most of them connected to a broad notion of sustainability—understood as a holistic concept encompassing the economy, the environment, social capital, innovation, and justice. Most of my research focuses on the interactions between energy, the economy, and the environment, particularly on sustainable energy policy, energy efficiency, and energy modeling. I am also interested in decision-making (especially multicriteria decision analysis), social justice, university governance, among other topics. I have published on most of these areas in the field’s leading academic journals. I have also participated in numerous research and consultancy projects for companies and public and private institutions in Spain, Europe, and Latin America. I am a member of the AEEE–IAEE and the International Society on MCDM.

Joan Batalla has been President of Sedigas since November 2020 and has a long-standing professional career in the energy sector. Since 2015, he has served as Director General of the Foundation for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (FUNSEAM), a non-profit organization dedicated to research in energy economics and the promotion of environmental and energy sustainability.

Previously, from 2005 to 2011, he served as Chief of Staff to the President of the National Energy Commission (CNE), now integrated into Spain’s National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC). He later became Commissioner of the same body, where he was responsible for defining and implementing the regulatory framework of Spain’s energy sector until 2013.

He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Barcelona and a PhD in Economics (with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award) from the Rovira i Virgili University. He furthered his education with the General Management Program (PDG) at IESE Business School – University of Navarra, and a Master’s in Energy Regulation from the Florence School of Regulation at the European University Institute.

Dr. David Parra Mendoza is the Head of the Hydrogen and Power-to-X Department at the Iberian Energy Storage Research Centre (CIIAE). Prior to this role, he was a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), where he coordinated research activities on energy storage and hydrogen. He also served as Principal Investigator at the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Storage, and was a Visiting Researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

His research is interdisciplinary in nature, integrating technical, economic, environmental, and—more recently—social dimensions. He has demonstrated strong leadership in coordinating national and international collaborative projects. Dr. Parra Mendoza began his research career at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (2008–2010), earned his PhD at the University of Nottingham (2010–2014), and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Geneva (2014–2016).

María Paz Espinosa holds a degree in Economics and Business from the University of the Basque Country. She later earned both her Master’s and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, subsequently joining the University of the Basque Country, where she is currently a Full Professor of Economics. A significant part of her academic work has focused on industrial organization, renewable energy sources, and their integration into the electricity market. Her research has been published in leading academic journals in her field, as well as in collective volumes and monographs. She collaborates with public and private companies and institutions through various research projects and contracts and serves as co-editor or editorial board member for several scientific journals (such as Papeles de Energía). She has served as President of the Spanish Economic Association and as Academic Vice President of the Spanish Association for Energy Economics. She is currently an Honorary Member of the Spanish Economic Association, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Barcelona School of Economics, and a full member of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences.