The next academic year 19-20 Tecnun-University of Navarra comes to Madrid with the Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering at the headquarters Alumni of the University of Navarra. On this occasion, the School of Engineering of the University of Navarra is organizing meetings of great interest with relevant personalities in different areas. The next meeting will take place on February 28th at 7.30 p.m. at the new postgraduate headquarters in Madrid, and will consist of a table-discussion on "Management in Uncertainty". In this meeting we will have the presence of Iván Martén, Ignacio Martín and Rafael Mateo, great experts in this area. Iván Martén is former Vice Chairman BCG Energy Practice and Independent Director of energy companies and in the following interview he talks about some of the topics that will be discussed at the table-discussion. 

Is it difficult to manage in uncertainty?

Uncertainty is a constant element in the business world. Being able to make decisions in times of uncertainty is what differentiates a good manager from a bad one. In the case of the energy sector there are three types of uncertainty: Technological, Regulatory and Geopolitical, making management much more complicated. The technological development is becoming faster and faster and predicting its impact is very difficult as many times they are totally disruptive innovations. In addition, in the regulatory case, we are at the expense of political and electoral calendars as far as infrastructure investments are concerned. For example, combined cycles are not made with a 40-year horizon, but with a 10-year government horizon. The geopolitical topic in a multipolar context has a substantial impact on energy access and prices. Therefore, companies have to be very flexible and have the capacity to adapt to face this uncertain future. The core topic is not about predicting when what will happen, but about knowing what to do in the face of possible scenarios and understanding their impact.

How can the challenge of climate change affect business management?

The challenge of climate change is an opportunity for many economic sectors, including the energy sector. It is an important challenge and tackling it will require large investments in technology so we should see it more as an opportunity than a threat. The energy sector is clearly showing that they are "part of the solution" by both improving internally to reduce their emissions and developing new technologies that advance environmental preservation.

Can we maintain our current Western lifestyle with renewable energy alone?

We cannot speak of a Western lifestyle. In 2030, more than two thirds of the energy demand will be in the so-called emerging countries (Asia, Middle East, Africa) that aspire to a quality of life similar to that of the West. Nor should we forget that there are currently one billion people in the world without access to electricity. And that 230 million people cook in unhealthy conditions. In this global environment, priorities (cheap energy, sustainability, etc.) and access to different types of energy resources are very different depending on the context of each country (population growth, development economic, among others). Therefore, I foresee a future where we will continue to need a mix of energies. In the end, we will have to reach a low-emission scenario, given its environmental impact, but the important thing is that the roadmap is intelligent and adapts to each of the different realities.

Is it true that electric and hybrid cars save money?

People who buy an electric vehicle do not do so because of a topic cost but because of environmental awareness. For the electric vehicle to be green, we must first have green electricity generation, otherwise we will be talking about cars with coal propulsion (China) or nuclear propulsion (France). issue In any case, there are many issues to be resolved in relation to electric vehicles: how governments will collect the taxes currently charged on fuels, how we will recycle all the batteries in a context of 100% clean mobility, what impact the dependence of a small number of countries on lithium and cobalt needed for batteries has on prices, what impact it has on local grids, among other issues.