Aspen Seminar on “Sustainability and intergenerational balances”
Aspen Institute España held the first edition of the Aspen Seminar on “Sustainability and intergenerational balances” at the Centre Pompidou Malaga from May 19 to 21, 2022, which was moderated by María Sicilia, Director of Strategy and member of the Management Committee of Enagás and Aspen España Fellow; and José M. de Areilza, Secretary General of Aspen Institute España and Professor Jean Monnet Chair at ESADE. The Seminar brought together participants from very different sectors and ages with the aim of generating a highly enriching exchange of ideas and experiences through two-hour discussion sessions which were held during the course of the Seminar.
The aim of this first edition of the Aspen Seminar on Sustainability was to create a space for reflection, dialogue and learning that will allow us to put the spotlight on and debate the world we are going to leave to the next generations. During the Seminar, two round tables were held with national and international speakers, open to the public and the media: Fighting the Climate Emergency and Markets & States: Leading for the Common Good.
The first roundtable featured several speakers: Beatriz Yordi, Director of European and International Carbon Markets, European Commission, Directorate-General for Climate Action, María Ortiz Pérez, Director of the Energy and Environment Program at the Aspen Institute (USA), Iván Martén, President of Orkestra Instituto Vasco de Competitividad and Trustee of Aspen Institute España, and Gustavo Lopetegui, former Secretary of Energy of Argentina. And the second hosted Christie Warren, Professor of the Practice of International and Comparative Law and Director of the Comparative Legal Studies and Peacebuilding Programme at William & Mary Law School, Judy Samuelson, Founder and Executive Director of the Business and Society Programme at the Aspen Institute (USA) and author of Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World, Antoni Ballabriga, Global Director of Responsible Business at BBVA, and Hugo Dixon, journalist, President and co-founder of Breakingviews and former editor of the Lex column of the Financial Times.
The Seminar departs from the urgent debate on climate change and energy transition that rises the double question of what social, economic and political changes are needed to create a fairer and more sustainable society and how we achieve them. Sustainability is understood from this perspective as an early warning system and also as a guide, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which allows governments to agree on reforms, businesses to adopt new practices and citizens to mobilise, always with the aim of keeping the interests of future generations in mind. In this way, the Seminar is structured around five key aspects: technological innovation, climate change, finance and economy, energy transition and geopolitics, and the future of democracy. The Seminar, moderated through the Socratic method used in other Aspen España programs, does not aim to reach specific conclusions but rather to improve the quality of our questions and raise the level of the debate on the great challenges of today and the timeless matters surrounding human values.
MARÍA SICILIA
Is Director of Strategy and Member of the Management Committee of ENAGÁS, Member of the Board of Directors of Soltec, as well as Director of the French renewable gas company DualMetha. She has previously developed her professional career in the field of energy policy and the fight against climate change in leading organisations, both in the public sector (Spanish Government, OECD/IEA, Ofgem) and the private sector (Iberdrola). María holds a Master’s degree in Economic Policy from the London School of Economics (LSE) with a specialisation in Industrial Organisation, and has completed management development programmes at Harvard Business School. María Sicilia was appointed Aspen España Fellow in January 2017.
JOSÉ M. DE AREILZA
Is Secretary General of Aspen Institute España and has a dual appointment as Professor at the Law Department and at the General Management and Strategy Department of ESADE Business School. He is the holder of the Jean Monnet Chair-ESADE and a Senior Research Fellow, Elcano Royal Institute. He has been Visiting Professor at INSEAD Business School, Fontainebleau, France and has worked as Advisor to the Spanish Prime Minister on European and North American affairs. José M. de Areilza received an LL.B. degree with Special Graduation Prize from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and holds a Masters degree (LL.M.) and Doctorate degree (S.J.D.) from Harvard University and an M.A. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
