Conference Program Essen 2026

Wednesday, March 25th: Talks/Panels

(9:00 –12:30) Climate Policy; EU ETS

Talks09:00 - 09:45Dr. Michael Pahle, PIK: "Quo vadis EU ETS?"
09:45 - 10:30Dr. Hendrik Voß, Head of Sustainability RWE ST: "A new era of European climate protection – How can green value chains accelerate decarbonization while creating new economic growth?"
10:30 - 11:00Coffee Break
11:00 - 11:30Dr. Claudio Baccianti, Sustainability Hub, Bundesbank: "Zero-carbon homes and EU ETS II: can carbon pricing do the job?"
11:30 - 12:00Prof. Luca Taschini, University of Edinburgh, Business School: "Mind the Emission Gap: Firm-Level Policy Stringency Matters for Emission Reductions in the EU ETS"
12:00 - 12:30Isabell Steidel, Hochschule Heilbronn: "AI and Sustainability - how can we use the AI for Good approach to thrive within the EU ETS?"

 

(12:30 – 13:30) Lunch Break and Poster Session

(13:30 – 16:30) Financing the Green Transition

Talks13:30 - 14:00Jörg Silvanus, Head of Treasury RWE AG:"Fueling the Energy Transition: RWE’s Approach to Sustainable Financing"
14:00 - 14:30Dr. David Döhrmann, Acting Head of Sustainability, Bundesbank: "Financing the net-zero transition – a system perspective"
14:30 - 15:00Prof. Aneta Hryckiewicz, Kozminski University: "Bank Ownership and Brown Lending: Do State-Owned Banks Impede the Green Transition?"
15:00 - 15:30Coffee Break
Panel15:30 - 16:30

Participants: All Speakers

Moderation: Prof. Christoph Weber, HECF, University Duisburg-Essen

Thursday, March 26th: Talks/Panels

(9:00 –13:15) AI in Energy Markets

Talks09:00 - 09:45Sebastian Horlemann, FORRS :  "Flexibility Unlocked: How BESS, Hybrid Assets & AI-Driven Hedging are Reshaping German Power"
09:45 - 10:30Prof. Fred Espen Benth, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo: "Finance-informed learning and pricing of energy derivatives"
10:30 - 11:00Coffee Break
11:00 - 11:30Dr. Rayan Ayari, RAIIS, Friedrichshafen: "Finance-Informed Learning and Pricing of Energy Derivatives"
11:30 - 12:00Dr. Michael Schürle, University St. Gallen: "Interdependencies between short-term electricity markets"
Panel12:15 - 13:15

Participants: 

Moderation:

  • Roman Kunert, FORRS

 

(13:30 – 14:30) Lunch Break and Poster Session

 

(14:30 -17:30) Enterprises and Climate Change

Talks14:30 - 15:15Dr. Andrej Bajic, Luxemburg School of Business: “Carbon Emission Metrics”
15:15 - 16:00Prof. Florentina Paraschiv, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen: "Do well sell well? Pricing ESG heterogeneity in M&A deals"
16:00 - 16:30Coffee Break
Panel16:30 - 17:30

SME Panel (Language: German)

Participants:

Moderation:

Deadline for registration: March 23th, 2026