Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speakers

Confirmed Speakers

Philip Lowe

Director General for DG Energy, European Commission

Philip Lowe was born in Leeds in 1947. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at St John's College, Oxford and has an M. Sc. from London Business School. Following a period in the manufacturing industry, he joined the European Commission in 1973, and held a range of senior posts as Chef de Cabinet and Director in the fields of regional development, agriculture, transport and administration, before becoming Director-General of the Development DG in 1997. From September 2002 he was Director-General of the Competition DG until he took up his current appointment as Director-General of the Energy DG in February 2010.

Dr Graeme Sweeney

Chairman, Zero Emissions Platform - ZEP

Graeme Sweeney is a leading authority on energy, fuels and climate change. Reporting directly to the main board of Royal Dutch Shell he directs and co-ordinates all Shell’s CO2 related activities drawing on extensive international experience across all aspects of the oil, gas and renewable industries.

He is Chairman of the Advisory Council of the European Technology Platform of Zero Emission Fossil Fuels Power Plants (ETP-ZEP) and is co-chair of the European Union’s Carbon Capture and Storage ( CCS) Project Network Advisory Forum. He is a founding member of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute and serves on the advisory board of the University of California (Davis) Institute of Transportation Studies.

He has a physics degree and a PhD in mathematics from the Victoria University of Manchester and is a Chartered Physicist. He is British, married with two children, and enjoys rugby, football, cycling and literature.

Alyn Smith

Member, European Parliament

- Elected June 2004 and again in June 2009 to the European Parliament
- Full Committee Member on Agriculture and Rural Development
- Substitute Committee Member on Industry, Energy and Research
- Full Member of the Delegation for relations with the Arabic Peninsula
- Substitute Member of the Delegation for relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and to the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee

Born in Glasgow in 1973, Alyn grew up in Saudi Arabia, returning to Scotland in 1986. He attended Leeds and Heidelberg Universities, and graduated from Nottingham Law School in 1996. Alyn also achieved a Masters degree in European Studies from the College of Europe in Warsaw. After a spell of working with Scotland Europa in Brussels, Alyn moved to London where he qualified with Clifford Chance, a commercial law firm.

Prior to his election Alyn worked on the SNP staff in Holyrood. Here he focused on European, Justice and Business policies. Since his election to the European Parliament in 2004, Alyn’s time is split roughly between half in Brussels or Strasbourg, and half in Scotland. He has become particularly involved with agriculture issues, energy matters and regional funding programmes whilst also continually working to further the cause of Scottish Independence within the European Union.

Visit Alyn's website at http://www.alynsmith.eu

Jerzy Buzek

Member, European Parliament**

Jerzy Buzek has been a member of the European Parliament since 13 June 2004 and was President of the European Parliament from July 2009 to January 2012. He was elected with the biggest majority of any EP President since the first direct elections in 1979. He is the first EP President from one of the EU's 2004 enlargement Member States.

During his mandate, he presided over the transition from the Nice to the Lisbon Treaty, playing a key-role in the finalisation of the ratification process. He has also been very active on the energy front, launching together with Jacques Delors the initiative of a European Energy Community aimed at strengthening legal certainty and energy cooperation within and outside the EU.

From 1997 to 2001, Jerzy Buzek was Prime Minister of Poland, introducing sweeping reforms in pensions, healthcare, local and regional administration, education and the mining sectors. During his government Poland acceded to NATO and made key-steps towards EU membership.

A chemical engineer by formation, Buzek joined the Solidarność movement from its early days, becoming the Chair of the Works Committee, and later Chairman of the fourth, fifth and sixth national Congresses.

Juho Lipponen

Head of the CCS Unit, International Energy Agency

Juho Lipponen joined the International Energy Agency in 2010 as Head of the CCS Unit. He manages a team of six specialists analysing various aspects of CCS, from technical and economic issues to policies, incentives and regulatory frameworks. Prior to joining the IEA, Mr Lipponen worked for the European power industry federation Eurelectric as Head of the Energy Policy and Power Production Unit. Mr Lipponen holds a Masters degree from the Turku University in Finland. He also studied business economics at the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration.

Edit Herczog

Member, European Parliament

Mrs Herczog was born on the 5th of May in 1961 in Budapest. She graduated from high school in 1979 and obtained an engineering degree from the University of Horticulture in 1985. She also completed a Master in Portugal Language and Literature from the Eötvös Lóránd University of Science in 1992, followed by an additional degree from the European Business School.

After studies, she started to work at the University of Horticulture. From 1994 till 2004, she was representative for the National Starch and Chemical, which belonged to the Unilever Group until 1997.

She became the member of MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party) in 1989. From 1998 to 2004, member of the Hungarian National Assembly. Since 2007, also holds membership in the Presidency of The Hungarian Socialist Party.

Elected as a member of the European Parliament in 2004, she became a full member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee and substitute member of the Industry, Research and Energy and the Budgetary Control committees. She currently holds full member position in the Industry, Research and Energy Committee and substitute member positions in the Budgetary Control and Budget committees and treasurer of Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament.

Furthermore, she is a member in the presidency of the European Energy Forum, European Internet Foundation, Kangaroo Group, Forum for the Future of Nuclear Energy and the Transatlantic Policy Network.

Gianluca Massimi

Senior Structured Finance Officer - Climate Change and Environment Division, European Investment Bank

Gianluca Massimi is a Senior Structured Finance officer within the Climate Change and Environment (NPST) Division at the European Investment Bank, which he joined in 2006.

Mr. Massimi has an extensive background in structured finance accumulated working for the EIB and, previously, other commercial banks. He is currently involved in the implementation of the NER300 programme launched by the European Commission for the financing of commercial CCS and RES demonstration projects under the EU Emissions Trading System.

He holds a master’s degree in Economics from “La Sapienza” University of Rome and a MBA from the London Business School.

John Scowcroft

General Manager - Europe, Global CCS Institute

John Scowcroft joined the Global CCS Institute as General Manager – Europe in January 2012.
Prior to this, John was Head of the Environment and Sustainable Development Policy Unit at Electricity EURELECTRIC, the association which represents the European electricity industry. In this role, John was responsible for all aspects of environmental and sustainable development policy in particular for global and European climate policy. John was actively involved in the ground-breaking EURELECTRIC greenhouse gas and electricity trading simulations (GETS).
After a long career in the British Electricity Industry where he held a number of senior posts covering the whole range of employee relations issues, John joined EURELECTRIC’s
predecessor, UNIPEDE in 1991 as a Senior Adviser where he was responsible for environmental matters, and structural and organisation issues. In 1997, John became Head of the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit.
John graduated as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Liverpool.

Lewis Gillies

Chief Executive Officer, 2Co Energy

After graduating in 1989, Lewis joined BP and became a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He worked for BP for 20 years in Europe, Asia and the US.

In his last few years in BP Lewis served as Chief Executive of Hydrogen Energy International, the former BP/Rio Tinto joint venture. In that time he led the development of a number of CCS power projects in different regions of the world including two of the most advanced – in Abu Dhabi and California - as well as the original UK Peterhead project, the first such project to be fully permitted.

After leaving BP in 2009 Lewis formed 2Co Energy with the now Chairman Gareth Roberts. The company is focussed on CCS project development and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). Its strategy is to capture CO2 at installations onshore and transport it to the North Sea for use in EOR projects, and for permanent storage, in specific oil fields. 2Co is the owner of the Don Valley CCS power project in Yorkshire, UK.

Adam Dawson

CEO , Office of CCS, DECC

Adam is Chief Executive and Director of the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage.
The OCCS was created in March 2010 and Adam joined in April. The OCCS’ role is to facilitate the delivery of CCS as a key carbon abatement technology in the UK for both power generation and industrial applications, and help promote UK opportunities in the rapid deployment of CCS internationally. Adam joined the OCCS after three and a half years as head of new nuclear in DECC’s Office for Nuclear Development. One of his team’s key achievements was to publish a White Paper on the future of nuclear power, after a major public consultation taking the best part of a year. This opened up the prospect of new nuclear power stations being built in the UK for the first time in 20 years. Prior to joining the Civil Service in 2005, Adam spent 19 years working for Shell, primarily in the area of bulk petrochemicals.

Martina Doppelhammer

Policy co-ordinator for CCS and NER 300, European Commission

Ms Martina Doppelhammer is Policy Co-ordinator of the CCS and NER 300 files in Unit C.1 "Low Carbon Technologies" of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate Action. She has drafted the Directive on the geological storage of carbon dioxide (CCS-Directive), which was adopted in 2009. Since then, she has worked on the implementation of the Directive as well as on the establishment of the NER 300 process, including on the drafting, negotiation and adoption of the Commission Decision laying down criteria and measures for the financing of commercial CCS and RES demonstration projects under the EU Emissions Trading System (NER 300 Decision), and of the related Co-operation Agreement between the Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB), as well as on the preparation and launch of the NER 300 Call for proposals. She is now responsible for co-ordinating work on the further implementation of the Directive and of the NER 300 process in the Unit. Ms Doppelhammer joined the European Commission in 2002. She is a lawyer by training and holds an LL.M. in European law from the College of Europe in Bruges. She spent several years studying and researching into European environmental law and has authored and co-authored a number of publications in the field.

Karla Hill

Director of Programmes, ClientEarth

Karla Hill is director of programmes at public interest environmental law group, ClientEarth. She leads ClientEarth’s climate and energy programme with a particular focus on design and implementation of legal, regulatory and policy frameworks for decarbonisation. Since 2008 this has included EU frameworks for demonstration and deployment of carbon capture and storage technology at scale subject to appropriate safeguards for environmental integrity.

Chris Littlecott

Senior Policy Adviser, E3G

Chris Littlecott is a senior policy adviser at E3G, and a policy research associate at Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS). He serves on the advisory council of ZEP - the European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants, the advisory committee of UKCCSC, and the Energy Advisory Panel of the Energy Institute. From 2008 - 2011 he was the UK board member and a Vice President of European Environmental Bureau, Europe's largest network of environmental NGOs. Previously at Green Alliance, he compiled and edited the 2008 publication 'a last chance for coal: making carbon capture and storage a reality', and convened the 2009 UK CCS dialogue.

Irene Hurrel

Partner, DLA Piper

Irene is the lead partner for the regulated energy sector in the UK. She has more than sixteen years' experience of advising on energy projects and issues and has a particular specialism in the regulatory framework for the UK and European energy sector having spent seven years as a senior adviser to the industry regulator, Ofgem, and six months with the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Irene has advised both regulators and the regulated on energy sector projects and issues. She has significant experience of advising on, drafting and negotiating the commercial agreements for energy sector projects and of advising on the detailed legal and regulatory framework that applies to those projects and to energy sector participants. Most recently Irene has been involved in advising on a key CCS project in the UK.

Knut Kroepelien

Environmental Counsellor, Mission of Norway to the EU

Knut F. Kroepelien is Counsellor for Environment at the Norwegian Mission to the EU. Previously he was Deputy Director General at the Norwegian Ministry of Environment. From 2004-2007 he was Head of the Norwegian Delegation to OSPAR (Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic) and from 2007-2008 he was acting Chairman of OSPAR. Kroepelien trained as a lawyer and holds an LL.M in European Law from the London School of Economics.

Eivind Hoff

Director, Bellona Europa

Eivind Hoff joined The Bellona Foundation to head its Brussels advocacy office in late 2007, which recently has focussed on how EU legislation can speed up the phase-out of unabated coal- and gas-fired power generation. Eivind came to Bellona from WWF European Policy Office, where he was in charge of advocacy on trade policy. Before joining the environmental movement on a professional basis, he was a member of the national board of the youth movement of Friends of the Earth Norway. Eivind has also worked for the EFTA Secretariat in Brussels and for the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry. He holds a master’s degree in European studies from the College of Europe and an LLM in public international law from the University of London.

Jesse Scott

Head of Environment & Sustainable Development Policy Unit, Eurelectric

Jesse Scott is Head of Unit for Environment and Sustainable Development at EURELECTRIC in Brussels. EURELECTRIC is the sector association which represents the common interests of the electricity industry at pan-European level. Jesse works primarily on EU and international policies for decarbonisation. She was previously Director for Energy and Climate at think tank DemosEUROPA in Warsaw and Brussels, and Head of Office at environmental NGO E3G in Brussels, specialised in policies and funding for low-carbon technologies including CCS.

Alex Sarac

Legal Director, DLA Piper

Alexander Sarac is a legal director in the Finance and Projects team of the London office. He advises investors, project developers, financial institutions, service companies and sovereigns on carbon markets and climate finance. Alexander provides his clients with legal advice related to the development, financing, and structuring of emissions reduction projects and project portfolios in China, South-East Asia, South America and Eastern Europe under the Kyoto Protocol as well as secondary market transactions of emission allowances and carbon credits in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). In his practice, Alexander works with clients on regulatory and transactional matters related to a wide range of climate change motivated regulations and policies as well as on innovative climate finance structures, such as green bonds, NAMA-bonds under the UNFCCCC framework and similar investment vehicles and funds.

Stuart Haszeldine

ScottishPower Professor of CCS, University of Edinburgh

Stuart Haszeldine is the world’s first Professor of Carbon Capture and Storage, appointed in GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh. Since 2005 he has examined carbon capture, geological storage and public understanding, in the context of changing climate and energy generation. He is now Director of the UK's largest university CCS research group www.sccs.org.uk. He is a member of several UK government advisory groups. In 2011, Stuart was awarded the prestigious William Smith Medal of the Geological Society, for global excellence in applied geology.

Denis Clodic

President, Energy Research Innovation Engineering, ERIE

Denis CLODIC is doctor in energy processes of MINES ParisTech (1990), CNAM engineer (1985), and emeritus research director of MINES ParisTech.

In January 2011, he has created ERIE SAS, of which he is the President. Previously, he was the Head of the Center for Energy and Processes (80 people) from 1993 to 2010. EReIE is a R&D company working downstream research laboratories for development of technologies that have been proven at the laboratory scale. ERIE SAS (www.ereiesas.fr) valorizes Armines patents previously written by D. Clodic and co-authors. Thermodynamics of energy systems is the core of his competencies.

He is author or co-author of more than 150 international conference papers and of more than 30 peer reviewed articles.
With his team he has developed several innovations in order to improve significantly energy efficiency of domestic refrigerators, and residential and industrial heat pumps. He has also developed two-phase flow expanders for saturated liquid, CO2 capture by antisublimation, and organic Rankine cycles integrated on process flue gases. He is the author or co-author of forty patents and more than twenty have been extended internationally.
Denis Clodic is co-laureate of 2007 Nobel Price for its contributions to IPCC; he is member of Académie des Technologies since November 2010.

He is a member of the ANR scientific council on energy, ASHRAE member and chair of 2 standard committees, member of the Technical Option Committee of UNEP on refrigerants

Paal Frisvold

Chairman of the Board, Bellona Europa

Since 2001, Paal Frisvold has been part of the Bellona Energy Team whose main focus is to advocate policies, technological solutions and economic incentives to reverse and stabilise climate change by reducing CO2 emissions. Frisvold is Chairman of the Board of Bellona Europa aisbl – the Brussels office of The Bellona Foundation. He currently co-chairs the Task force on Policy and Regulation under the European Technology Platform on Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants (ZEP).

Prior to joining Bellona, Frisvold spent four years at the EFTA Secretariat in Brussels in the Secretary General’s private office responsible for managing of the Standing Committee of the EFTA States and the EEA Joint Committee. Prior to joining EFTA, Frisvold worked in the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association’s EU policy unit. He has also worked four years as Director of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OCED, responsible for articulating and advocating private sector views to OECD deliberations on environmental and economic policies. From 1986-88, Frisvold worked in the commercial section of the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, China. Frisvold frequently speaks and debates on broader EU policy issues in Brussels and in Norway. Frisvold holds a Master degree in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Bachelor Degree in Political Science from The American University of Paris where he is currently a Member of the Board of Trustees.

Frisvold is trilingual in English, French and Norwegian. A former fencer at international level, he placed 11th for Norway in the Olympic games in Los Angeles, 1984. Paal Frisvold was born in Oslo on 5 May 1962 and is married, with two children.