Keynote speakers
Senator Mike Barrett
Massachusetts finds a way on Climate Policy
Mike Barrett is the State Senator for Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Lincoln, Waltham, Weston, and large parts of Lexington and Sudbury.
Mike serves as Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy. He also serves as Assistant Majority Leader of the Democrats in the State Senate.
Mike was the chief architect of An Act Creating A Next Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy. The bill became law this past March. By common agreement, it positions Massachusetts among the leading states in the nation on steps taken to deal with global warming.
Mike is a graduate of Harvard College magna cum laude and the Northeastern University School of Law, and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. He’s married, lives in Lexington, and is the father of twin daughters.
Prof. Peter Van den Bossche
The EU’s Draft Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and its Consistency with WTO Law
Peter Van den Bossche is Director of Studies of the World Trade Institute (WTI) and Professor of International Economic Law at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Since 2018, he serves as President of the Society of International Economic Law. From 2009 to 2019, he was a Member of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and served as chairman of the Appellate Body in 2015. He is an honorary professor at Maastricht University, the Netherlands (since 2018), and a visiting professor at the University of Geneva (since 2018), at LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy (since 2016), at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador (since 2016), and at the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium (since 2010). Since 2020, he is Editor of the World Trade Review, Cambridge University Press. Van den Bossche is the author (with Werner Zdouc) of The Law and Policy of the World Trade Organization, 4th edition (Cambridge University Press, 2017), 1077 p.; and (with SHAN Wenhua) of the Chinese edition of this book (Law Press – China, 2020), 1151 p. Van den Bossche is also the author (with Denise Prévost) of Essentials of WTO Law (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 302 p.
Drs. Mark Bressers
Towards a decarbonized industry, Stacking instruments: blessing or burden
Mark Bressers is director of the Dutch Emissions Authority (NEa). The Netherlands Emissions Authority (NEa) is the independent national authority for the implementation and supervision of market instruments that contribute to a climate-neutral society. That includes the EU ETS, but also the implementation of a national Dutch carbon tax for the industry and the supervision on the Dutch marketsystem for renewable energy. Before that, was policy director at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate and the ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations. He was also a Strategic Advisor to the Biobased Economy and Green Growth directorate at the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Mark Bressers studied Public Administration and Organizational Science at Radboud University Nijmegen.
Prof. Nathalie J. Chalifour
What Canada’s Supreme Court Decision on Carbon Pricing Means for Global Efforts to Decarbonize
Nathalie Chalifour is a Full Professor with the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, in Canada. She is a member of Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars.
Prof. Dr. Chalifour’s research lies at the intersection of environment law, economics and social justice, with a focus on climate change. Her most recent articles focus on the Canadian legal framework for climate change, with an emphasis on constitutional law, carbon pricing, and environmental justice. She is the co-editor of three international books, including Energy, Governance and Sustainability (Edward Elgar, 2016), and Food Law in Canada (Carswell 2020).
In 2020, Dr. Chalifour made written and oral submissions on behalf of interveners before the Saskatchewan and Ontario Courts of Appeal, as well as the Supreme Court of Canada, in the recent constitutional challenge to Canada’s national carbon pricing legislation. The Supreme Court cited two of her articles in the decision upholding the law. She has been a frequent media commentator about the case.
She obtained her Doctorate of Law at Stanford University, and holds a Master in Juridical Sciences which she obtained as a Stanford Fellow and Fulbright Scholar.
Mr. Vicente Hurtado Roa
The review of the Energy Taxation Directive
Head of the Energy Taxation and other Indirect Taxes Unit, European Commission, Belgium
Vicente Hurtado Roa is the Head of the Unit in the European Commission responsible for Energy Taxation and other indirect taxes. His first steps in the Directorate General for Taxation started in 2006 when he was responsible for drafting the review of the Savings Directive before becoming the assistant to two previous Director Generals responsible for taxation. His experience in the European Commission also covers seven years in the Secretary General , working first on the European Semester and then in the relations with the European Council. Previously to join the European Commission, Vicente had been a tax consultant in Garrigues for ten years with an expertise in international taxation.
Prof. Dr. Xiaoping Zhang
The National Chinese Emissions Trading System
Xiaoping Zhang is an Associate Professor of Law at the Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) of Beijing, PRC and Director of CUFE Research Center for Chinese Environmental Financial Law. He serves as the Standing Member of Council and Deputy Secretary of China Energy Law Institute and Member of Water Law Committee of Chinses Hydraulic Engineering Society.
His expertise and research interest are environmental law, energy law, and fiscal and taxation law. He has been working in the field of climate change since 2008 and hosted several research projects funded by governmental agencies. From 2017-2018, he participated in the special training workshops on “Carbon Asset Management”, “Greenhouse Gases MRV”, and “Forestry Carbon Sink Project Development” in Beijing Environmental Exchange.
He was seconded to Department of Treaties and Law, Ministry of Finance of PRC from May 2020 to May 2021.
He received his Ph.D from Law School of Renmin University and holds a bachelor degree in economics.
| Last modified: | 20 September 2021 08.42 a.m. |