The H2 Road to Net Zero

Ana Quelhas

Managing Director Hydrogen

EDP Group

Ana Quelhas was recently appointed the Managing Director for Hydrogen at EDPR, leading the Group’s strategy on the renewable hydrogen business. Prior to that, Ana was the Head of Energy Planning at EDP, being responsible for supporting the Executive Board of Directors in the decision making processes, contributing with a long term perspective of the energy sector and an integrated vision of the company across businesses (renewables, conventional electricity generation, retail and distribution) and geographies (mainly Europe, US and Brazil). Before joining EDP, Ana worked in the Directorate-General for Research of the European Commission, in Brussels, supporting the development of the strategic research agenda in the field of energy. Prior to that, she was at the California Independent System Operator providing strategic energy consultancy to the wholesale power market and grid operator in the State of California. Ana holds a PhD with distinction in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University. She also holds a master’s degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Engineering from the same university, being graduated from the University of Porto with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Federica Minozzi

CEO

Iris Ceramica Group

She graduated with a first-class honours degree in Law at Modena University in 1997, and went to work immediately after at Iris Ceramica, her family business company, for a period of on-the-job training. She studied sales and marketing in depth, and this soon proved strategic for her future and vital for the development of her entrepreneurial and managerial abilities. These strong entrepreneurial and leadership skills led her to occupy the highest positions of responsibility in all the companies of her family’s multinational company and today, she is the Group CEO.

Francesco La Camera

Director-General

IRENA

Francesco La Camera is the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). He took office on 4th April 2019 and brings more than thirty years of experience in the fields of climate, sustainability, and international cooperation. Mr. La Camera formerly served as Director-General of Sustainable Development, Environmental Damage, EU and International Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea since 2014. In this capacity, he developed cooperation and partnerships agreements with a wide range of countries, particularly developing countries including Small Island Developing States (SIDS). As the national coordinator for climate, environment, resource efficiency and circular economy, he led the Italian delegation to UNFCCC’s COPs 21 to 24 and the EU delegation to COP 20. He was responsible for the organisation of Italy’s G7 Environment Presidency in 2017. He also led the Italian delegation to the G7 Environment meetings in 2016 and 2018. Mr. La Camera is widely credited with having spearheaded international cooperation on issues related to climate change and the environment. He played a key role in bringing together multilateral organisations such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank, UNEP, UNDP and FAO to develop joint initiatives designed to implement the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. He served as co-chair of the Africa Centre for Climate and Sustainable Development established in Rome in partnership with FAO and UNDP, and co-chaired the Financial Platform for Climate and Sustainable Development in partnership with the Italian Development Bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. He has also coordinated a number of national strategies including on sustainable development, green finance and fossil fuel subsides among other things. Mr. La Camera was instrumental to the support provided by Italy to several renewable energy initiatives such as the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI), the Initiative for Renewable Island Energy (IRIE) and the Global Geothermal Alliance (GGA), coordinated by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Author of many publications, Mr. La Camera is a Lecturer of Sustainable Development at the University of Cosenza and of Environment & Land Economics at the University of Roma 3. He began his career as an economic analyst at the Italian Ministry of Budget & Planning. Mr. La Camera is a national of Italy, and graduate of the University of Messina in Political Sciences (Economic Policy major).

Gerrit Marx

CEO

Iveco Group

Henri Poupart-Lafarge

CEO

Alstom

John Kerry

United States Special Envoy for Climate

On January 20, 2021, John F. Kerry was sworn in as our nation’s first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and the first-ever Principal to sit on the National Security Council entirely dedicated to climate change. President Biden announced Kerry would have a seat at every table around the world as he combats the climate crisis to meet the existential threat that we face. In recent years, Kerry was the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s first ever Visiting Distinguished Statesman, following his four years as the 68th United States Secretary of State. As America’s top diplomat, he guided the Department’s strategy on nuclear nonproliferation, combating radical extremism, and the threat of climate change. His tenure was marked by the successful negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement. From 1985 to 2013, he served as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts, and was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2009 to 2013. Secretary Kerry served in the U.S. Navy, completing two combat tours of duty in Vietnam for which he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Boston College Law School. Secretary Kerry is the best-selling author of A Call to Service, This Moment on Earth with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, and his 2018 memoir, Every Day Is Extra, which The New York Times described as “a bittersweet reminder of what the country once demanded of its leaders.” Secretary Kerry was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States in 2004.

Luigi Corradi

CEO

Trenitalia

Mr. Luigi Corradi is graduated in mechanical engineering at the University of Genova with also an MBA Master from Bocconi in Milan. In 1992, he began his career path at the Navy Arsenal in La Spezia and one year later in Ansaldo Energia in Genova, his hometown. In 2003, he became General Manager of Bombardier Transportation (in the past ABB Daimler Benz Transportation) where in 2010, in addition to this position, he took on the role of Project Director Frecciarossa 1000. In 2013, he was appointed CEO and President of Bombardier Transportation Italy. In September 2019, Mr. Corradi assumes the appointment of Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Titagarh Firema S.p.a., a company that operates in the project development and construction of railway material. From December 2020, Mr. Corradi joins the FS Group (Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group) as Chief Executive Officer of Trenitalia S.p.a.

Marco Alvera

CEO

Snam

Marco Alverà, born in New York in 1975, has been the CEO of Snam, one of the world’s leading energy infrastructure companies, since April 2016. Marco has more than 20 years of experience in Italy’s most relevant energy companies. He holds a degree in Philosophy and Economics from the London School of Economics and began his career working at Goldman Sachs in London before moving to Enel and subsequently joining Wind. Afterwards, he moved to Eni, where he worked for over 10 years holding positions of increasing responsibility. Since 2017 he has been non-executive Director of S&P Global, where he is also Chair of the Finance Committee. He is also a member of the Executive Board and of the Steering Committee of the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice, a member of the Board of the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) and a Visiting Fellow of the University of Oxford. He is Vice President of Fondazione Snam, Snam’s no-profit entity committed to the social development of territories, and co-founder of the Kenta Foundation, active in promoting gender balance and combating educational poverty. Marco wrote the books ‘Generation H’ (Mondadori) and ‘Zhero’ (Salani) on hydrogen’s potential in the fight against climate change.

Martin Pei

CTO

SSAB (originator of the HYBRIT initiativ

Massimiliano Fedriga

President of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces

Born in Verona on 2 July 1980 and raised in Trieste, Fedriga graduated in Communication Sciences at the University of Trieste. After graduating, he obtained a master's degree in communication management and analysis. He joined the Northern League in 1995. Subsequently, he became a member of the 'National Council', the decision-making body of the party in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and then of the Federal Council. Since 2003 he is provincial secretary of the League, while on 28 September 2014 he was elected national secretary of the party of Friuli Venezia Giulia. He was elected MP for the first time in 2008; he was then re-elected in 2013 and 2018. In 2011 Fedriga was candidate for mayor of Trieste, but obtained only 6.3% of the votes. In 2018 Fedriga was elected President of Friuli Venezia Giulia with 57.1% of preferences. He is Knight of Honor of the Order of St. George

Nigel Topping

UN High Level Climate Action Champion for COP26

Mr. Nigel Topping was the CEO of We Mean Business until December 2019, where he drove radical collaboration for climate action among NGOs working with the world's most influential businesses. This coalition played a key role in bringing the constructive voice of business in support of the Paris Agreement and, under Nigel's leadership has continued to drive ambition and action to accelerate the transition to a zero carbon economy. Previously, Nigel was Executive Director of CDP, launching new programs and partnerships including supply chain, water, forests and cities. Nigel has 18 years’ experience in the private sector, including as a member of the management board of the world's largest manufacturer of brake pads, TMD Friction. Nigel is a commissioner on the Energy Transitions Commission and has been instrumental in the launch of many collaborative initiatives such as Science Based Targets, Business for Nature and the Global Commons Alliance. He holds an MA in Mathematics from Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK and an MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher College, Devon, UK

Paddy Padmanathan

President and CEO

ACWA Power

Mr. Padmanathan, a professional Civil Engineer with over 30 years of experience is the President and CEO of ACWA Power. ACWA Power company has a paid up capital of US$ 1.3 Billion which within a period of 8 years has emerged as a leading developer of privately financed power generation and desalinated water production plants in the GCC, MENA region, Southern cone of Africa and Eastern Europe. The company has a portfolio of assets to deliver 13,000 MW and 2.4 million cum of water per day and has assets of US$ 15.2 Billion. An engineering graduate of University of Manchester, United Kingdom Mr. Padmanathan started his career with a British Consulting Engineering practice and through two mergers arrived at Black and Veatch a major Global Engineering and Construction Company where on his departure in 2005 he was a Vice President and Corporate officer. While his early experience was in the delivery of infrastructure projects utilizing the traditional model of government ownership and international development agency financing, he has spent the last fifteen years on the development of privately financed power, water and wastewater projects as Concessions, BOT, BOO and Utility Outsourcing models of service delivery contracts. In addition to his executive responsibilities at ACWA Power, he also serves on the board of directors of several companies all serving the water and power sectors.

Roberto Cingolani

Minister for Ecological Transition for the Republic of Italy

Roberto Cingolani was born in 1961 in Milan. In 1989 he graduated in Physics and obtained his “Diploma di Perfezionamento” (PhD) in Physics at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. He was staff member at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart and Visiting Professor at Tokyo University (Japan) and Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, USA). In 2000 he was appointed Full Professor of General Physics at the Engineering Faculty of University of Lecce (Italy). In 2001, he founded the National Nanotechnology Laboratory (NNL) of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Lecce, which has become one of the largest international nanotechnology laboratories. Since its foundation in 2005 till 2019 he was Scientific Director of Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia - IIT (Italian Institute of Technology Foundation), an interna tionally acknowledged research center. He launched the interdisciplinary program “Humanoid Technologies” based on the idea that the technological imitation of nature and its processes may provide solutions to improve the quality of human life.From September 2019 to February 2021 he was the Chief Technology & Innovation Officer of Leonardo, the Italian multinational company specialized in Aerospace, Defense and Security. He swore in as Minister for the Ecological Transition of Italy on February 13, 2021. Roberto Cingolani is author and co-author of more than 1100 papers on international journals and holds more than 100 patents in the fields of Materials Science, Semiconductor Technologies, Nanotechnologies, Chemistry of Materials, Sensor Technologies, Optoelectronics and Photonics, Robotics. He has served as technical advisor in different panels for the Ministry of Research and University, including the Commission for the Selection of Centers of Excellence and the panel of experts for the drawing up of the National Research Plan, as well as for the European Commission, especially in the field of Nanotechnologies, New Materials, and New Production Systems. He has received many national and international awards, including the honorific title of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic of “Commendatore della Repubblica” from the President of the Italian Republic.

Tommaso Ebhardt