Opening and introduction
 

• Opening and welcome greeting by Professor and Director of NTNU Energy Transition Initiative, Asgeir Tomasgard.
• Introduction of Conference Moderator Ruth Astrid Sæther.

Fairness and justice in the energy transition

Fairness and justice for consumers and industry in the North and South, the East and the West should be cornerstone of energy and climate policy making. This session addresses the massive polarization in the world, which needs to be removed in order to meet the sustainable development goals we have signed up for.
 

Confirmed speakers participating:

• Phoumin Han, Senior Energy Economist
  Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
• Benjamin Sovacool, Professor of Energy Policy
  University of Sussex Business School
• Wanjira Mathai, Vice President And Regional Director
  World Resources Institute
• Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary
  United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Discussion
 

Panelists in this session:

On track to meet the Paris Agreement?

With COP26 coming up in Glasgow in November 2021 we want to take a short pause and look back at what has been achieved, where new insights are available and if there is a need to adjust pathways.

Confirmed speaker participating:

• Keywan Riahi, Program Director Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
  International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Discussion

Panelists in this session:

Challenges to deep decarbonization

During this session we focus on technical and societal constraints to a deep transition. What are technically feasible options to reduce emissions, the role of sector coupling, which role do consumers play, how can we decarbonize industry, how does the smart city of tomorrow look like are just few topics that are addressed.

Confirmed speakers participating:

• Henrik Sætness, Executive Vice President Corporate Staff
  Statkraft
• Annemie Wyckmans, Professor and leader of Smart Sustainable Cities,
  Faculty of Architecture and Design, NTNU
• Jillian Anable, Professor, Chair in Transport and Energy,
  Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds
• Grete Tveit, Senior Vice President and Head of Low carbon solutions,
  Equinor

Discussion
 

Panelists in this session:

The colour of hope is green

The European Green Deal, climate action in China and the US, stimulus packages for economic recovery following the global pandemic – several activities have the potential to make the energy transition a global effort. Are these sufficient and what can green growth look like?

Confirmed speakers participating:

• Tina Bru, Minister of Petroleum and Energy
  Norwegian Government
• Tudor Constantinescu, Principal Adviser to the Director General for Energy
  European Commission
• Fu Sha, Program Director, Low Carbon Economic Growth Director, Strategy and Planning
  Energy Foundation China
• Steven Stone, Chief of UN Environment's Resources & Markets Branch
• Seth Monteith, Associate Director for the Global Intelligence team
  ClimateWorks Foundation

Discussion
 

Panelists in this session:

Don’t slow me down

In this closing session, we point to the potential controversies that could slow down or hamper the transition of society: the societal dilemma across the globe, the question on how costs and benefits are allocated among customers and industry, geographical perspectives on just transition or if degrowth can be a solution to the Northern hemisphere. Are targets for renewable energy and environmental goals aligned and how do they match with the wishes of individuals and quality of life?

Confirmed speakers participating:

• Radhika Khosla, Research Director
  Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development
• Jonathan Stern, Professor and Research Fellow, Founder of the Natural Gas Research Programme, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES)
• Poppy Kalesi, Director, Global Energy
  Environmental Defense Fund
• Al Cook, Executive Vice President and Head of Development and production international, Equinor

Discussion
 

Panelists in this session:

Closing remarks

By Professor and Director of NTNU Energy Transition Initiative, Asgeir Tomasgard and Conference Moderator Ruth Astrid Sæther.

Startups & Cocktail

Did you get invigorated by the conference and want to meet like-minded people?
“Startups and Cocktail” is an informal social after-party where we get together in virtual roundtables over a drink of your choice (drinks are unfortunately not included in your ticket) and discuss basically anything you’d like – related or unrelated to the conference.

And if you’re curious to see something new, we really recommend you to see pitches and talk to the energy-related student startups from NTNU.

See you there! 

The value of end-use flexibility:
Perspectives on digitalization, energy communities and power markets 

Time: 28 april 2021: 09:00 – 12:00 

• Open to all 

• Chair: Pedro Crespo del Granado

About this workshop

Integrating end-user flexibility in the operations of the energy system has the potential to reshape load profiles to match variable renewable generation(VRE), to reduce peak load, and to create a more active demand-side participation in power markets and grid operations. However, incentivizing and raising end-use flexibility touches upon multiple technological and structural challenges (e.g., social, market, and regulatory). To this end, the objective of the workshop is to discuss related questions on:

• What is the value of end-use flexibility? (from the consumer perspective as well as for the energy system)
• What market designs will provide the right investment signals to guarantee a business case (long term perspective) for providers of end-use flexibility (from prosumers, local markets to aggregators?
• How is digitalization and smart grids enabling the emergence of a consumer-centric energy transition? What is the role of Peer-to-Peer and flexibility markets in supporting grid operations and managing VRE?

Speakers and panel discussants: Confirmed international speakers will discuss up-to-date research and challenges on end-use flexibility.

Workshop Organized by Pedro Crespo del Granado  (NTNU), and Igor Sartori (SINTEF). This in coordination with two ongoing research projects, Flexbuild and Beyond.

Climate finance: Hard choices in the Energy transition 
 

Time: 28 April 2021: 13:00 – 17:00

• Chair: Stein-Erik Fleten 

• Full program for the workshop

In this workshop we will focus on economic risks that arise from climate policies and climate action failures, emphasizing risks in public and corporate strategies and mega-projects. Can we discover and discuss risk factors that potentially can avoid stranded assets? There are two sessions, each followed by a discussion. The first session is devoted to the oil and gas sector with a focus on transition risks, whereas the second session focuses on the electricity sector with an emphasis on policy risks. 

You will hear contributions from: 

• Liv Kari Eskeland, Member of Parliament in Norway representing the Conservative party and a member of The Standing Committee on Energy and the Environment, Norway 
• Ottar Skagen, Equinor, Norway 
• Espen A. Hauge, The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Norway 
• Tine Compernolle, Docent, University of Antwerp, Belgium
• Franziska Holz, Professor DiW Berlin and NTNU, Germany 
• Luiz Barroso, CEO, PSR Energy Consulting & Analytics, Brazil 
• Jostein Søreide, Hydro, Norway 
• Ahlmahz Negash, Tacoma Power, USA 
• David Aikman, Professor at King's Business School and Director of the Qatar Centre for Global Banking and Finance, UK 
• Harry Van Der Weijde, University of Edinburgh, UK 

Workshop organized by Maria Lavrutich (NTNU), Verena Hagspiel (NTNU) and Stein-Erik Fleten (NTNU).

Negative emissions and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) 

Time:  14.00-18.30, 28 April 2021

Most scenarios and pathways that brings us to a net zero society rely on our ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere from around 2040 and onwards. This workshop aims to involve key representatives from industry, government, academia and NGOs in discussion of some of the central questions that needs to be solved. It is the first in a series of workshops and we will try to outline the main challenges related to:

1. How should businesses approach a situation where negative emissions becomes a necessity?
2. What is the role of governments in making this happen: for example, reducing risk, building markets, and providing regulation – and what is the right timing?
3. What are the knowledge gaps that the academic society should address?

• Chair: Asgeir Tomasgard 
   
• Full program for the workshop

Note:
This workshop employs a modified Chatham House Rule.  Participants are free to use the information received during the meeting, but specific positions taken by individuals should not be attributed without expressed permission.  However, formal presentations, the meeting agenda, and the meeting participation list will become part of the public meeting record unless participants request anonymity.

This workshop resultet in the production of a Policy Brief: Negative Emissions and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)

Can participation and inclusion deliver just energy transitions? 

Time: 29 April: 09:00 – 12:00 

• Open to all 

• Chair: Tomas Moe Skjølsvold 

Participatory processes and social inclusion are key aspects of just transitions. In this workshop we discuss what this means, both in practice and conceptually. What does it mean to participate in the energy transition, and which are the ways that public actors and industry can advance inclusive forms of participation? This workshop showcases research perspectives and work by practitioners who work with such issues daily and seeks to stimulate a combination of broad reflection and hands-on discussions about why, how and when to engage the public. 

Contributions from: 

• Jason Chilvers, University of East Anglia 

• Øyvind Tanum, Trondheim municipality 

• Anatol Itten, TU Delft 

• Ines Campos, University of Lisbon 

• Mari Bern , Trøndelag County 

• Kacper Szulecki, University of Oslo/FME include 

European energy and climate modelling 
 

Time: 30 April 2021: 10:00 – 14:00 

• By invitation only. If interested, send us an email