Energy matters for all: from global actors to active consumers - Speakers

Jonathan Brearley was appointed as an executive member of GEMA in 2018 and this appointment runs until January 2025. Jonathan became Ofgem’s Chief Executive Officer on 3 February 2020. This follows his previous appointment as Ofgem Executive Director for Systems and Networks in April 2018.

He has wide-ranging energy sector experience, having led Electricity Market Reform as the Director for Energy Markets and Networks at DECC.

Prior to this, he was Director of the Office of Climate Change, a cross-government strategy unit focussed on climate change and energy issues, where he led the development of the Climate Change Act. Earlier in his career, Jonathan was a senior adviser in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics from Glasgow University and a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

George Anstey specializes in the economics of utility markets and regulation. His work spans public policy, litigation, valuation, due diligence, and competition policy. His recent work has covered competition in gas and electricity supply markets, arbitration and contract reviews, damages estimation, the design of market rules for gas and electricity, and the design of energy efficiency policies. In addition to his work in energy, Mr. Anstey works across other regulated industries, including the water industry, communications, and the gambling sector.

His expertise in competition policy covers restrictive agreements, abuse of a dominant position and state aid. His work across utility markets and regulation spans a wide range of geographies, including the UK and Ireland, much of Western, Central and Eastern Europe, the Far East, and the Middle East and Africa.

Mr. Anstey has been widely published in economic and trade journals, including the Electricity Journal, New Power, Water Utility Management International, and Competition Policy International’s Antitrust Chronicle.

Mr. Anstey is recommended as a leading energy expert by Who’s Who Legal (2019 and 2022) and described as an “esteemed economist with vast experience advising on complex competition matters in the energy sector.” Mr. Anstey is commended for “his deep understanding of utility and energy regulation.”

Sam Fankhauser is Professor of Climate Economics and Policy at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, and  Research Director of Oxford Net Zero.  Before moving to Oxford, Sam was Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, where he remains a Visiting Professor. He has also worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility. He was an inaugural member of the UK Climate Change Committee and a Non-Executive Director of CDC Group (now British International Investment), the UK’s development finance institution.

Beverley is a business leader with a proven track record in early stage cleantech investments and commercialisation. She has over 30 years’ experience in the international energy sector and is a thought leader in the commercialisation of sustainable technologies, and an independent member of the cross-government Net Zero Innovation Board chaired by Sir Patrick Vallance.

In 2023, Beverley was bestowed an OBE by His Majesty The King (Charles III) for services to Net Zero innovation.

She specialises in accelerating innovation to market and scaling companies by providing strategic insights, developing industry partnerships and identifying novel ways to overcome barriers to entry. In 2006 she established CLT whose mission is “scaling transformative technologies for clean growth, sustaining our planet”. Her ambition is to create a better, sustainable world and she firmly believes that this will be achieved through innovation playing a transformative role in our economy.

She has supported low carbon ventures in a wide range of sectors including power, transport, built environment, industry and waste. During her tenure at Shell she gained wide international business exposure and delivered the £500 million subsurface technology transfer programme to worldwide operations. Beverley was founder and Vice President at Shell Technology Ventures in this role she was instrumental in defining Shells technology venturing strategic approach. At QinetiQ she was Performance Director for the corporate venture division managing a portfolio of ventures (total value of £60 million), which went on to yield an IRR of 18%. Beverley holds a degree in Mining Geology from University College Cardiff.

Michael Grubb is Professor of Energy and Climate Change at University College London. Since leading the Energy and Environmental Programme at Chatham House in the 1990s, his career has combined a wide range of energy systems and climate change research with half-time implementation roles. Prior to UCL, he was employed at Imperial College London (Engineering and Environment) and then Cambridge University (Economics), conducting research alongside positions at the UK Carbon Trust (as Chief Economist, to 2010), the Energy Regulator, Ofgem (Senior Advisor, 2011-16), and subsequently chairing the UK government’s independent Panel of Technical Experts on Electricity Market Reform (2016-19).

Professor Grubb was one of the original members of the UK Climate Change Committee, established under the UK Climate Change Act to advise the government on future carbon budgets and to report to Parliament on their implementation. In 2018 Professor Grubb was appointed as Convening Lead Author for Chapter 1 of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report – Mitigation.  Following completion of the report in 2022, he became Strategy Director for a major international research programme on the Economics of Energy Innovation and System Transition.  

Mallika is Shell’s Chief Economist. She advises on macroeconomic issues, economic trends, and related policy matters to shape Shell’s long-term scenario outlooks. 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 advises on Shell’s strategic policy and advocacy approach to support the company’s energy transition strategy. She sits on a range of external advisory boards.

Prior to joining Shell, she was Deputy Director at the 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 across 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 Ph.D. and M.S degrees from Carnegie Mellon University, and a B.A. from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University.

Dr. Tatiana Mitrova, Research Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University | SIPA, Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ).

Dr. Mitrova has twenty-five years of experience in dealing with Eurasian and global energy markets. From February 2017 to December 2020, she was the Executive Director of the Energy Centre of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, a graduate business-school. From 2006-2011 she has been the Head of Research in the Oil and Gas Department in the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Since 2014 she is a Visiting Professor at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).

• profound knowledge of the global and FSU energy markets – energy technologies, market organization and corporate strategies.
• 14 years of experience in business education.
• 8 years as Independent Director in the international public energy companies. Currently Dr. Mitrova serves as a board member of SLB.
• Strong focus on ESG and corporate climate strategies.

Dr. Mitrova is a graduate of Moscow State University’s Economics Department. She has more than 200 publications in scientific and business journals and co-authors10 scientific books as well as best-seller “The 8 and 1/2 Steps: How to Live, Love And Work At Full Capacity” (stories of women leaders).

Dave Moon is the Director of Asset Investment for Cadent.  Cadent are the largest gas distribution company in the UK with over 11 million customers.  Dave is an experienced leader of teams in regulation, finance, operational support and our customer centre, and is the executive sponsor of Women In Cadent, who look to promote the amazing women within Cadent. He also sits on the E, D & I executive steering group.

Ruben leads the National Grid Interconnectors Policy and Regulation team. Ruben’s team is a centre of expertise for engagement with the GB regulator Ofgem and the UK government’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. Ruben is responsible for policy and regulatory engagement on both existing interconnectors and multi-purpose interconnectors, including the development of a new regulatory regime to support upcoming investment decisions.

Ruben holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick. After graduating in 2012 he joined Ofgem as a Senior Economist, where he worked for 3 years. He then was Head of Regulation and Compliance at an energy retailer before joining National Grid Ventures in 2018. At NGV Ruben has been involved in regulatory negotiations for IFA2, NSL, Viking Link and more recently our offshore hybrid projects Nautilus and Lion Link.

Syed has close to 20 years working in the sustainable energy industry, in a wide variety of roles and organisations ranging from Friends of the Earth, the Combined Heat and Power Association, the Greater London Authority, Arup, and as a director of a trade association working in the insulation sector.

Syed established Energy for London, an independent think tank supporting London’s progress to becoming a low-carbon city. In 2014, he was seconded into the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) undertaking a review of linkages across the Government’s demand side policies. He is also a Director of the Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group (PRASEG), a Trustee for national fuel poverty organisation National Energy Action (NEA), and a policy advisor to the Green Gas Certification Scheme. In 2015 he produced a report on the opportunities for green infrastructure investment in cities for the Green Investment Bank.

To find out more about Energy For London visit: www.energyforlondon.org 

Richard Druce is an expert in the energy and water sectors. He supports regulated utility and infrastructure companies, their legal advisors and investors, and sector regulators on the design and implementation of competitive markets and the regulation of natural monopolies.

Much of Mr. Druce’s work involves supporting utilities and other infrastructure companies in the course of price control reviews, during which he works on incentive design, cost-benefit analysis, cost assessment and benchmarking, and regulatory finance issues.

Mr. Druce also works on a range of market design and network charging issues in the electricity, gas, and water sectors. He has worked extensively on transmission and distribution tariff design, power market modelling exercises, and the economic challenges associated with renewable energy, distributed energy resources, and “smart grids.” Recently, he has developed new electricity tariffs to recognize the impacts of renewable energy deployment, advised on likely future changes in power market design promoted by decarbonization, and developed contractual structures to enhance competition and trade in the water sector.

In environmental economics, Mr. Druce has conducted numerous survey-based studies to value non-market goods, analyzed the economic impacts of changes in oil and gas production policy on market outcomes and greenhouse gas emissions, and advised on the development of green certificate schemes.

Mr. Druce has served as an expert witness in proceedings before the English High Court, in appeals to the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and in proceedings before the Alberta Utilities Commission. His work has spanned a wide range of geographies, including the UK and Ireland, Continental Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia.

Richard Hall is the Chief Energy Economist at Citizens Advice.  He previously worked for the consumer group, Consumer Focus, the energy regulator, Ofgem, and the electricity market central services company, Elexon, on a broad range of competition, infrastructure and consumer issues.

Clare is one of the leading voices in hydrogen in the UK. She launched the Hydrogen UK, the UK trade association for hydrogen, which is leading the national debate on the role of hydrogen in meeting net zero and working with industry leaders, Ministers and civil servants on the next steps required to scale hydrogen in the UK. Clare has an extensive network across the hydrogen space, working with many organisations and companies to advise on how to capitalise on the opportunities presented by hydrogen.

David is Head of Net Zero at the Climate Change Committee, statutory advisors to Government and Parliament on climate change, where he’s worked since 2007. He leads the Committee’s progress reporting on emissions reduction, as well as the advice on the levels of emissions reduction targets, including how energy supply and use need to change for Net Zero. He led the scenario analysis and recommendations for the CCC’s 2020 advice on the Sixth Carbon Budget that set out five pathways to Net Zero for the UK and is now overseeing the Committee’s analysis for the advice on the Seventh Carbon Budget. On hydrogen specifically, he led the CCC’s 2018 Hydrogen Review and has a PhD on hydrogen infrastructure from Imperial College.

Alice is Vice-Dean and Head of the School of Engineering and a researcher in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester. Alice trained as a physicist in Leeds, did her PhD in climate modelling at Imperial College, then worked in science communication. She returned to academia joining the Tyndall Centre at the University of Manchester in 2003 to research conflicts between climate change and energy policy. Her work on carbon budgets helped to shape the UK’s Climate Change Act and inclusion of aviation within policy frameworks. She became a Professor and Director of Tyndall Manchester in 2015, delivered a TED talk and was awarded a University ‘Researcher of the Year’ award in 2016. She has led large collaborative EPSRC projects on the Water-Energy-Food nexus and decarbonising international transport and continues to work at the climate change-policy interface.

Dr Bryony Livesey – Director, Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge

Bryony leads the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC), which forms part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).  IDC is a £210m programme with £261m match funding from industry, designed to deploy low carbon technologies and enabling infrastructure in heavily industrialised regions of the UK.

Bryony was previously Head of Technology at Costain, with responsibility for the identification and development of new technology. She was a member of BEIS’ CCUS Cost Challenge Task Force, a Director of the CCSA (where she co-chaired the Technical Working Group) and chair of the Independent Advisory Panel for the UKCCSRC.

Richard Lowes is a specialist in the technology and policy associated with heating and gas and is based within the Regulatory Assistance Project’s Europe programme where he coordinates much of RAP’s work on heating. He joined RAP in 2021 with over 10 years’ heat policy experience in industry, academia and working with policymakers.

After earning an advanced degree in energy policy, Dr. Lowes worked for SSE before moving on to gas transporter SGN, where he led the company’s work on policy and public affairs. In 2014 he moved to the University of Exeter, where he completed a doctorate alongside various heat-focused research projects. He also lectured on energy policy. Since 2019, he has been a non-executive director of the Scottish government’s heat decarbonisation programme board and he is also an advisor to Skoon Energy.

Dr. Lowes has a track record of delivering high-impact heat decarbonisation research and remains a research fellow at the University of Exeter. He has provided oral evidence to multiple UK parliamentary select committees, advised institutional investors on clean heating, was an expert advisor to the National Audit Office inquiry into Great Britain’s Renewable Heat Incentive, and was an advocate for sustainable heating at the 2020 Climate Assembly UK.

He holds a first class honours degree in geography and environmental management, in addition to his master’s (with distinction) in energy policy and doctorate in the development of UK sustainable heating policy.

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.

Rebecca Willis is a Professor in Energy & Climate Governance at Lancaster Environment Centre, where she leads the Climate Citizens  project. In 2020 she was an Expert Lead for Climate Assembly UK, the Citizens’ Assembly established by the UK Parliament. Rebecca is an adviser to the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund and features on the ENDs Report PowerList, as well as the Woman’s Hour Our Planet Power List which highlights 30 women making an impact by helping to protect our planet.  Her book, Too Hot To Handle? The democratic challenge of climate change was published by Bristol University Press in March 2020. Previously, she was a research fellow for the IGov project at the University of Exeter, investigating energy governance. From 2015-2019 she was a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of UKRI’s Energy Programme, and from 2011-15 she was a Council Member of the Natural Environment Research Council. She was Vice-Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, advising the Prime Minister and First Ministers of the devolved administrations, from 2004-2011.  In 2009 Rebecca founded Green Alliance’s Climate Leadership Programme, an initiative to support Members of the UK Parliament, and earlier served as Green Alliance’s Director.

Tom Griffiths – Joint Head of the Energy, Infrastructure and Markets Analysis team within the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

I joined the Government Economic Service in 2004 and have previously held positions within the Welsh Government, HM Treasury, Department for Business and Department for Health and Social Care. Key responsibilities within my current role relate to the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, Electricity Security and Gas Analysis.

Felicity Hannon is the Head of Climate Change Macroeconomics at Oxford Economics (OE). Felicity is responsible for climate scenario analysis, as well as leading research on the clean energy transition, emerging technologies and the regulatory environment. Felicity also oversees climate consultancy projects, which includes working with large corporations to develop bespoke climate scenarios.  Last year, Felicity and her colleague James Nixon were awarded the Rybczynski Prize for their research essay “Can the Clean Energy Transition Boost Global Growth?”.

Previously, Felicity worked as a senior policy advisor at HM Treasury, advising Ministers on fiscal and monetary policy and monitoring UK macroeconomic risks. Felicity has a first class undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of York and a MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge.