
IIASA Deputy Director General for Science Leena Srivastava will speak at the World Energy Week Live – Global Plenary virtual meeting addressing the critical drivers and challenges that need to be considered in managing global energy transition due to COVID-19 pandemic and how we can emerge faster from crisis as stronger, connected energy societies.

COVID-19 demonstrates the need to engage diverse and highly uneven societies to work together in agile ways to manage new global threats and to share the benefits of global energy developments and digital connectivity. COVID-19 recovery plans share a common human-centred emphasis and appreciation for a new context of what is affordable.
This is an opportunity to engage with the transformational power of customer-centric, collaborative innovation.
The virtual meeting will present interactive panel discussions exploring the critical drivers fueling energy transition around several key themes:
- How has the crisis redirected leadership attention to or away from global energy transition? Is there greater openness to alternative pathways for socially sustainable and climate neutral transition?
- Who will take the lead in addressing the costs and co-benefits to societies of whole energy system transition and addressing issues of energy affordability, access and social justice?
- How can collaborative innovation in energy transition close the multiple and widening access gaps within and between connected energy societies?
The global plenary on the first day of the World Energy Week LIVE 2020 brings together global energy leaders and experts including:
- Leena Srivastava, IIASA Deputy Director General for Science
- Angela Wilkinson, Secretary General & CEO, World Energy Council
- Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, EDF
- Kirill Komarov, First Deputy Director General for Corporate Development and International Business, Rosatom
- Jochen Eickholt, Executive Board Member, Siemens Energy
- Serge Colle, Partner, Global Power & Utilities Advisory Leader, EY – as moderator

World Energy Week
World Energy Week is the World Energy Council’s largest annual gathering dedicated to global energy matters. It is a platform that connects regional realities and priorities with the global energy agenda. The event brings together the entire energy+ community to address whole energy systems’ challenges and opportunities, drive practical action and help shape the future of energy. Under the theme of ‘Connecting Energy Societies’, this year’s World Energy Week will connect stakeholders worldwide in dynamic regional and global dialogue across three days, on key themes including resilience and dealing with disruption driven by the Council’s Vision 2025 to humanise the energy transition agenda.
Upcoming Events
06 June 2023 Virtual event
IIASA Public Webinar #8: IIASA Voices - The role of science in catalyzing sustainability transformation
27 June 2023 The EGG Congress and Meeting Center, Brussels, Belgium
Land & Carbon Lab’s 2023 Summit Conference
29 June 2023 Seoul, Korea
Wolfgang Lutz to deliver keynote address at the Munhwa Future Report 2023 launch
16 October 2023 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
RE4AFAGRI, IIASA and World Resources Institute (WRI) joint Workshops
06 December 2023 Vienna, Austria