Climate Change in an Era of Uncertainty

Senior researcher at BC3 (Basque Centre for Climate Change) and associated professor at the University of the Basque Country. He has a PhD in Economics (2006, University of the Basque Country) and a degree in Engineering (2001, University of Deusto). He has been visiting scholar at Wageningen University (Netherlands) and Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico). His main interests lie in the fields of energy and climate change economics. He is also interested in providing scientific support for decision making in the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy. His work has been published the leading journals in the field. He has worked for Basque and Spanish institutions and also lead several scientific projects funded by the European Commission. His doctoral thesis won him the Enrique Fuentes Quintana prize (FUNCAS, 2006). Since 2012 he has been the coordinator of the Low Carbon research line at BC3. He is currently vicepresident of the Spanish Association for Energy Economics (AEEE).

Alberto Ansuategi is Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Environmental Economics from the University of York (Department of Environmental Economics and Environmental Management). Currently he is a member of the Institute of Public Economics and Associate Professor in the Department of Economic Analysis I, UPV / EHU and Director of the Low Carbon Programme, joint research initiative between the UPV / EHU and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) and sponsored by the Repsol Foundation. His main research and publications in international journals include contributions to the analysis of the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality, management of fisheries resources and the use of economic instruments to promote energy efficiency and tackling climate change. As for his participation in research projects and networks at European level on issues related to marine economy it should highlighted his participation in the ELME project between 2012 and 2014.

Dr. Alina Averchenkova is a Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. She leads Governance and Legislation research theme at the institute. Alina’s most recent work focuses on the implementation of the Paris agreement, in particular the analysis of experiences with climate change governance and legislation around the world and capacity building and advisory to governments and parliaments on the design and implementation of climate and energy laws. Alina has over nineteen years of experience in climate policy and international development. Prior to joining the LSE in 2013, Alina worked for KPMG as Global Director for Climate Change and Carbon; the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change supporting international negotiations on climate change; for a carbon-asset manager First Climate in Zurich and for the Environmental Defence Fund in Washington, DC; Metroeconomica Ltd and for the Russia’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Since May 1st, 2012, Prof. Dr. Christoph Böhringer has been a member of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation that was established by the German government. Christoph Böhringer is professor for economic policy at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg. After his graduation as industrial engineer from the Technical University of Karlsruhe, he received a doctorate in economics at the University of Stuttgart in 1995, where he became head of the section „Energy Economics“ at the Institute for Energy Economics and the Rational Use of Energy (IER). From 1999 to 2006, he led the department „Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management” at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. In 2002, he habilitated in economics at the University of Regensburg and in 2004 he became professor of economics at the University of Heidelberg.

Marta Escapa (Ph.D. in Economics, 1996, UPV/EHU) is Associate Professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Her research and teaching activity has developed in the area of Economic Analysis and, specifically, in Environmental and Resource Economics. She has over 20 years of research and teaching experience that covers both undergraduate and graduate courses on Natural Resource Economics and Environmental Economics and her research has focused on issues like: International Environmental Agreements on Climate Change; Intergenerational Dimension of Climate Change, Economic Analysis of Fisheries Management; Environmental Fiscal Reform and Unemployment; Solid Waste Management using System Dynamics. The main results from this research have been published in peer review journals with impact factor (JCR) like: Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Environmental and Resource Economics, Energy Economics or Ecological Economics.

S.H. Faria (Dr.rer.nat. Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany, 2003) is Ikerbasque Research Professor at BC3 and Adjoint Presidential Professor at the Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT), Japan. He is Head of the BC3 Research Line “Climate Basis”, Director of the “IzotzaLab” (BC3’s low-temperature research facility), and leader of the Team “Climate Change, Environment and Human Well-Being” within the UPV/EHU Doctorate Programme “Quaternary: Environmental Change and Human Ecological Footprint”. He is also European Coordinator of the “GIGAKU Education Programme for Innovative Global Engineers”, which is part of the “Top Global University Project” of the Japanese Government. He is Associate Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Glaciology and Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports. He is also Lead Author of “Chapter 1: Framing, Context, Methods” of the 6th Assessment Report, Working Group 1 (AR6-WG1) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

BC3 Basque Centre for Climate Change Ph.D. in Economics (Environmental Economics) from the University of Bath (UK), M.A. Economics at the University of Essex (UK) and B.A. Economics (speciality of International Economics and Development) at the University of Basque Country. He has worked as an environmental consultant for many years for both public and private clients such as the World Bank, the Department for International Development of the British Government or the Basque Government. He was co-founder of a consultancy company. Ibon taught microeconomics and macroeconomics at the University of Bath and Economic Policy at the University of Deusto.

Reinhold Leinfelder is Full Professor, chair of Invertebrate Palaeontology and Geobiology at the Freie Universität Berlin and Head of the Working Group on Geobiology and Anthropocene Research. He is Principal Investigator at the Excellence-Cluster "Interdisciplinary Laboratory Image Knowledge Gestaltung".

Pedro Linares is Professor of Industrial Engineering at the ICAI School of Engineering and co-founder and Director of Economics for Energy. He is also research affiliate at the Institute for Technology Research (IIT) and the BP Chair on Energy and Sustainability, and Research Associate at MIT-CEEPR. He currently serves as Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs at Comillas Pontifical University, Madrid. He holds a M.S. and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from U. Politécnica, Madrid. His research focuses on the relationship between energy, economics and environment, and specifically on sustainable energy, renewable energy and environmental policy, and multicriteria methods applied to resource allocation. He has published about these issues in the major journals in the field. He has also been a consultant for several private and public institutions in Spain, Europe and Latin America. He has more than 20 years experience in working with public institutions.

Iñigo Losada is the Research Director at IH Cantabria. He has also been Director of the Department of Water and Environmental Sciences and Techniques (2000-2003) and is Professor of Hydraulic Engineering at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Cantabria. He holds a Doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Cantabria and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware (USA) where he worked as a researcher at the Center for Applied Coastal Research from 1989 to 1992. Iñigo has been lead researcher in projects within the Spanish National Plan, the European Union and other international research agencies. He has also led over 50 transfer projects for the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Council of Europe and several national and international companies and public administrations. He is lead researcher of the Unique Scientific and Technological Infrastructure “Cantabria Coastal and Ocean Basin”.

Marc Neumann is Ikerbasque Research Professor and Ramón y Cajal Fellow at the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3). Marc holds a doctorate in Environmental Engineering from ETH Zurich (2007). He was Postdoctoral Fellow at Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Sciences and Technology) and at University Laval with the Canada Research Chair on Water Quality Modelling. His research background is in mathematical modelling of urban water systems. Current research focuses on uncertainty analysis for i) the development of planning strategies for infrastructure systems under dynamics of long-term change, and ii) environmental modelling for climate change mitigation and adaptation with a focus on uncertainty- and sensitivity analysis.

Reinhard Mechler has more than 15 years of experience working on the economics of disaster risk and resilience, risk modeling and climate change. He currently is deputy director of the Risk and Resilience (RISK) research program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). He is also a visiting professor at the University of Graz, as well as a senior lecturer at the University for Economics and Business in Vienna. His research interests comprise catastrophe risk modeling, understanding the nexus between extreme events, climate change and development, the role of resilience in disaster risk management, innovative risk financing mechanisms for sharing disaster risks, and policy instruments for climate mitigation and adaptation. He acted as a lead author on the IPCC’s special report on adaptation to extreme events (SREX) and on the IPCC’s 5th assessment report (working group II).

Peter Wadhams ScD (born 14 May 1948), is professor of Ocean Physics, and Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge. He is best known for his work on sea ice. He is the president of the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans Commission on Sea Ice and Coordinator for the International Programme for Antarctic Buoys. Wadhams has been the leader of 40 polar field expeditions. Wadhams advocates for the use of climate engineering to mitigate climate change. Notable awards of Prof. Peter Wadhams – 1977 W. S. Bruce Medal for his oceanographic investigations, especially in studying the behaviour of pack ice near Spitsbergen, the North Pole and off east Greenland. [3] – 1987 Polar Medal.

Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera holds Ph.D in Applied Economics by the UAM – He is Director of Climate Change and Alliances of Iberdrola, – Vice- President of the Spanish Association of Energy Economics – Vice-President of the Green Growth Spanish Group – Director of the MBA in Energy Business at Enerclub – He is an expert in the energy, economy, and climate change and environment fields.

Dr. Sanz is a Plant Eco-physiologist who has worked in air pollution, climate change, carbon and nitrogen cycles related issues for over twenty-five years. She has divided her time between research and policy oriented work at national and international level. She has held research oriented positions in the University of Valencia, Arizona State University, CEAM Foundation. And since 2007, as a Senior Officer at the secretariat of the UNFCCC supporting climate change negotiations Move to FAO in 2011, as Program Coordinator of the UNREDD Programme. She is the Scientific Director of BC3 since January 2016. Published over 150 scientific papers, recognized as a key expert in land use and climate change issues. As author of diverse reports since 2003 of the IPCC was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. In 2019, she was awarded with the October Price to the Scientific Merit by the Generalitat Valenciana.