Christoph Frei

Christoph is a Partner at Emerald, leading the development of the Global Energy Transformation Alliance (GETalliance). Christoph is also a Professor and advisor to the President of the Swiss Federal Technical Institute in Lausanne (EPFL) and a member of the board of the Energy Web Foundation (EWF). Prior to joining Emerald Christoph was CEO and Secretary General of the World Energy Council (WEC) for ten years and before that Senior Director and member of the Executive Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in charge of Energy for nine years.

At ease with strategic issues in the energy transformation context and recognised for his facilitation skills, Christoph regularly stimulates board and strategy meetings for leading energy and technology companies around the world and has a track record as facilitator of dialogue on behalf of governments and at international high-level events. In 2012, Christoph became a member of the high-level advisory group to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sustainable Energy for all.

Christoph received his PhD es sc. from EPFL. He holds a diploma in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in energy economics & management, a master’s degree in econometrics and a master’s degree in applied ethics. His publications cover fields including energy scenarios, innovation, energy & climate policy, global energy governance, energy-water nexus, energy access and the future of utilities. His PhD thesis was awarded with the ABB Energy Research Award 2001.

Christoph’s mother tongue is (Swiss-) German, he speaks French, English fluently as well as some Italian and Spanish.