The short and the long term: decision-making in times of climate change

EnergyDays

Date
Thursday October 6, 2022 from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Location
TU/e campus | filmzaal zwarte doos
Co-organizer
Team Energy
Price
Free

INVITATION

Welcome to join us | in person

You are warmly invited to attend the next EnergyDays scheduled as follows:

  • Thursday 06 October 2022
  • 13h30 - 16h15
  • TU/e campus, Filmzaal in Zwarte Doos building

The short and the long term: decision-making in times of climate change

We are feeling the consequences of climate change now, but the more severe impacts will happen further in the future. Decision-makers, in government and business, have to weigh long-term risks against short-term needs. Crises enlarge the problem. Should we build those houses now, despite rising risks of flooding? In the rush to build energy infrastructure for fast-increasing renewables, how do we make it climate-resilient? Burning coal so gas storage can be filled, but worsening climate change and losing international credibility? 
With a behavioral scientist, an electricity transmission operator, a young climate activist and a regional politician, this EnergyDays reflects on such questions and discusses how decision-makers can handle them.  

Program

12h45 - 13h30 
Walk-in with sandwiches

13h30 - 13h40 
Heleen de Coninck | Eindhoven University of Technology
Welcome by Chair of the day 

13h40 - 14h20
Linda Steg | University of Groningen
Human behavior: short-sighted and self-interested, or provident and considerate?
Many assume that most people are self interested, and prioritize personal outcomes in the short term above long term collective outcomes. Yet, many people engage in climate actions, even though this may be somewhat costly or inconvenient. Linda Steg will discuss what factors enhance the likelihood that people engage in climate actions.

14h20 - 15h00
Maarten Abbenhuis | TenneT TSO B.V.
Gearing up together - a TSOs perspective
By 2050 the European Union aims to become the first carbon-neutral continent and by 2030, the EU wants to reduce CO2 emissions by 55%. To hit these targets, Europe needs rapid electrification, in industry, mobility and households. The share of electricity in the energy system will grow exponentially, from 20% today to 40-60% in 2050. As one of Europe’s largest Transmission Service Operators (TSOs), TenneT needs to design and develop a grid that can support society’s climate ambitions. But how does TenneT contribute, what are the responsibilities of a TSO and what are the short and long term actions?

15h00 - 15h20
Break

15h20 - 15h35
Lisa van der Geer | Dutch Youth Climate Movement (Jonge Klimaatbeweging) & TU/e 
Climate change: two generations down, one to go
Climate change is like a sailboat in distress. On board we have ambitious businessmen, brilliant scientists, and even strategic politicians. Nevertheless, we are sinking and a storm is approaching. Are we heading for doom in disaster, or do we see new opportunities at the horizon? Lisa van der Geer will address this from an intergenerational perspective. 

15h35-15h50
Anne-Marie Spierings | Province of Noord Brabant
Governance and politics of the energy transition
Political leadership and decision making for the energy transition, both for the short and the long term.

15h50 - 16h10
General discussion with audience

16h10 – 16h15
Wrap-up & closure by Chair of the day

16h15 - 17h00
Open café & networking

Chair & speakers

About the speakers

Linda Steg
Professor Linda Steg (University of Groningen) is known worldwide as one of the most innovative and influential pioneers within the relatively new field of environmental psychology. Her main research interests focus on understanding environmental behaviour, including climate action. She is especially interested in understanding which individual and situational factors affect intrinsic motivation to act pro-environmentally. Also, she studies which factors affect the  effectiveness and acceptability of environmental policy and technology. Linda is involved in various interdisciplinary research projects that aim to understand how to realise a sustainable energy transition and a Lead Author in two recent IPCC reports.

Maarten Abbenhuis 
As a leading European grid operator, TenneT, with nearly 7,000 employees, is a driving force behind the energy transition. Achieving a better energy future that is more sustainable, reliable and affordable than ever before is the goal. As COO at TenneT, Maarten is responsible for security of supply in the Netherlands and a large part of Germany. In addition to this, he is responsible for TenneT's contribution in developing the necessary energy markets to prepare the energy system of the future. Here, TenneT works closely with other national grid operators, regional grid operators and market parties. Maarten studied Technical Public Administration at TU Delft and completed an MBA Finance & Accounting. He lives near Den Bosch with his wife and two children.

Lisa van der Geer
Starting from a young age she has been interested in the natural world and its current scientific prognosis deeply saddens her. This is particularly distressing as she is inherently an optimistic and enthusiastic person. Therefore she has decided to use her talent for public speaking to motivate people to start making small changes in their everyday lives in a positive way. For the past few years she has been actively increasing awareness for environmental and climate issues. She has given countless speeches to educate the public together with radio and television interviews, but apart from raising awareness she believes the youth can contribute to solutions as well. This she has demonstrated with her winning SDG idea to mitigate the devastating effect climate change will have on biodiversity and her recent involvement with the Young Climate Movement Netherlands as their acquisition manager. Currently she in her first year of Chemistry & Chemical engineering at TU/e, where she wants to continue her education in a scientific direction so that she can help progress science and technology in a practical way. 

Anne-Marie Spierings
Born in the province of Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands and raised with the conviction to contribute to the world. For Anne-Marie Spierings that means making our living environment better. Be it through renewable energy, healthy food, rich nature, clean water or clear air, she wants to contribute.
She has studied Environmental Sciences. After that, she has worked for sixteen years at a consultancy and engineering firm. Since 2010, she is politically active for D66 (Democrats 66). From 2011 until 2015 and in 2020/2021, she was a member of the Provincial Counsel of Noord-Brabant. From 2015 until 2020 and from 2021, she was and is a Provincial Executive of Noord-Brabant. Currently her focus is on the energy transition, the circular economy and the environment.

About EnergyDays

EnergyDays is organized every quarter of the year and are open for anyone interested in the latest developments in societal energy issues. EnergyDays focusses on a specific aspect of the present energy and climate discussion. Different keynote speakers from academia and industry will present their views, solutions and outlooks on the topic. The motto of EnergyDays is to stimulate the audience to broaden their vision on energy and climate.

Organization committee

Follow EIRES

Organizer

Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems

EIRES enables a CO2-neutral energy system by developing solutions that deliver the energy transition to people’s homes in a manufacturable, scalable, and affordable way.