The Johns Hopkins SAIS Global Risk Conference


The conference has been made possible with the generous support of Mr. James K. Anderson, SAIS Europe Alumnus and Advisory Council member, and Johns Hopkins University Trustee.
hosted by Professor Michael Leigh


SIMON BLAKEY

Simon Blakey is Senior Fellow at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute in Fiesole. Blakey is a leading authority on the European energy industry and its global dependencies, in particular the Europe-Russia natural gas relationship and its changing character from the 1980s to today. With four decades of experience at the intersection of geopolitics, energy economics, climate change, working on government policies and business strategies, Simon has provided strategic advice to corporations, and energy policy advice to governments and government agencies around the world. Most of his career has been with Cambridge Energy Research Associates (now S & P Global Commodities Insights, where he is a Senior Adviser). He has also spent five years at the International Energy Agency in Paris, and three years as Special Envoy at an industry association in Brussels. Blakey is a co-author, together with Daniel Yergin (Pulitzer Prize) and Professor Thane Gustafson (Georgetown University) of several landmark studies on the Russian-European commercial and political relationship, including the evolution of the Russian-Ukrainian gas crisis of 2009 and the European response. Simon is a regular speaker/chair at CERAWeek (the energy sector Davos) and other high-level global energy and strategy gatherings. As a Senior Visiting Fellow at the STG, he has been consulting colleagues for wide and diverse perspectives on future frameworks for global governance, including views on the future of Russia in its relations with Europe and the world. He expects this diversity of view to be valuable input for a book he is writing, developing plausible scenarios for the future of Russia and the Russian-European relationship.

JESSE SCOTT

Jesse Scott is Adjunct Professor at the Hertie School. She is currently on sabbatical doing projects with the European Climate Foundation, the German Economic Research Institute DIW Berlin, and the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. An expert and global practitioner in policy making and stakeholder engagement in the field of climate change and the clean energy transition, she has worked in Europe and globally, in international and national government and in civil society. Until September 2022, she was International Director at thinktank Agora Energiewende, and in 2015-17 she worked at the OECD International Energy Agency where she co-authored the first significant assessment of the impact of digitalisation on energy systems. Previously she worked for 15 years in Brussels where she campaigned – with many ‘wins' – on EU energy and climate policy. Her experience includes building non-profit thinktanks in emerging economies, advising EU Presidencies, business lobbying (Deputy Secretary General at natural gas association Eurogas, Head of Environment at electricity association Eurelectric), and leading NGOs. Her current research and policy work focus on how Europe can support energy transitions in emerging and developing economies in particular with regard to "just transitions" for vulnerable social groups and communities, and on rethinking the concept of political risk in light of climate change and the implications for high costs of capital for renewables investments. Jesse studied at Cambridge University and the European University Institute in Florence.