This year marks our eighth annual Carnot Prize for distinguished contributions to energy policy—and our 2023 recipient is Ramón Méndez Galain, physicist, renewable energy visionary, and former energy director of Uruguay.

During his tenure, Méndez transitioned the country away from fossil fuels and toward a diverse mix of wind, solar, hydro, and other forms of clean energy. Because of his plan, 98% of Uruguay’s electricity today is generated with renewable energy. Uruguay is one of the most electrified countries in the Western Hemisphere—with 99.9% of its homes connected to the electric grid. He is currently the Executive Director of Ivy, an association aimed at helping Latin America accelerate its path towards a new sustainable transition model for the 21st century, contributing to the necessary global transformation.

Join us for a lecture in his honor by Roberto Schaeffer, Professor of Energy Economics and Principal Investigator of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Economics (CENERGIA). Schaeffer’s talk is titled “The Energy Transition and Net Zero in Latin America”.

Penn President Liz Magill will present the award and a reception will follow.

About the Policy Lecture: The Energy Transition and Net Zero in Latin America

The bottom-up approach of the Paris Agreement’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) allows countries to self-determine their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. This approach has been the driving force behind Latin America’s energy transition.

The planned “ratcheting-up” process, which aims to ensure that NDCs comply with the overall goal of limiting global average temperature increases, will most likely include some evaluation of fairness—which often leads to equity principles and proposals for many different effort-sharing approaches.

In this year’s Carnot Prize policy lecture, Roberto Schaeffer explores how country-level emission targets and carbon budgets for Latin American countries can be achieved through effort-sharing approaches and the implications for the region’s energy transition. Schaeffer’s research includes novel methods directly based on the global carbon budget.

Results show that effort-sharing approaches lead to less stringent budgets than cost-optimal budgets. This indicates that cost-optimal approaches do not lead to fair outcomes for Latin America. This result is important to help policymakers in the region, as they consider the best pathways for Latin America’s energy future.

About Ramón Méndez Galain

Ramón Méndez Galain currently serves as Executive Director of Ivy, an association oriented to help Latin America accelerate its path towards a new model of sustainable transition for the 21st century by contributing to the necessary global transformation. He holds a degree in Physics from the University of Grenoble, France and a PhD in Physics from the University of La Plata, Argentina. He is recognized for having led the design and implementation of disruptive public policies oriented to promote renewable energies, to respond to climate change and, generically, to sustainable transformation, combined with a varied and vast experience in international organizations and a rich academic life.

In Uruguay, between 2008 and 2015, he was the National Director of Energy designing the Energy Policy of Uruguay 2008-2030 (approved by all political parties of the country) and leading the recognized transformation of the Uruguayan energy sector that today includes 98% of renewable energies in the electricity matrix (with up to 40% participation of wind energy) and 67% of renewable sources in the overall primary matrix of the country; this process attracted investments for more than 5 billion dollars (10% of the Uruguayan GDP), reduced by 40% the average generation costs and allowed the creation of 50,000 jobs. Between 2015 and 2016 he was Uruguay's National Director of Climate Change, coordinating the design of Uruguay's National Climate Change Policy 2020-2050 and fulfilled outstanding work in the negotiation of the Paris Climate Agreement. Between 2016 and 2019 he was the General Director of Planning of the Government of Montevideo, in charge of the strategic planning of Montevideo for the medium and long term with a focus on SDGs and resilience, territorial planning and strategic project management.

In the international arena, he was President for two terms of the Council of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Member of the Board of Directors of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Vice-Governor for Uruguay at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in addition to numerous advisory activities to various governments and organizations. As an academic, he has published over a hundred publications on various topics; he has been a professor and researcher at universities in Argentina, Brazil, France, United States, Italy and Uruguay, and has been invited to present scientific seminars in more than 30 universities in 20 countries.

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The Kleinman Center routinely hosts energy policy-focused speakers, panels, and discussions at our home at the University of Pennsylvania in conjunction with campus organizations, visiting scholars, and partners. Take a look at our calendar of upcoming events and watch video recordings of past events.

2023 Carnot Prize Policy Lecture and Award Ceremony