Net-Zero Pathways
Expert Advisory Panel

Dr. Chris Bataille has been involved in energy and climate policy analysis for 26 years as a researcher, energy systems and economic modeler, analyst, writer, project manager, and managing consultant/partner. His career has been focused on the transition to a globally-sustainable energy system, and recently on technology and policy pathways to net-zero GHG emissions in all sectors by 2050, to meet the Paris Agreement goals.

Dr. Bataille is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Columbia University Centre for Global Energy Policy (CGEP) and an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations in Paris. He was a Lead Author for the Industry Chapter of the 6th cycle of the IPCC Assessment Report 2019-2022, as well as the Summary for Policy Makers and Technical Summary. Dr. Bataille currently manages an ongoing global project to review technology and policy options for net-zero decarbonization of heavy industrial sectors, including the global Net Zero Steel project, and also focuses on industrial decarbonization at CGEP.

Allison Cretney is Managing Director for and oversees the strategic direction and operations of the Energy Futures Lab, an Alberta-based social innovation lab that convenes diverse innovators and leading organizations to advance solutions for creating an energy system that is ‘fit for the future’. Her work includes supporting dozens of entrepreneurs, energy companies, communities, and citizens in generating opportunities to identify, test, and scale new initiatives and collaborations. Alison has worked at the cross-section of energy, environment, and collaboration for two decades, advising and supporting numerous multinationals, government agencies, and startups.

Alison is a registered professional engineer with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta and a Masters of Science in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden.

Jason Dion is Mitigation Research Director with the Canadian Climate Institute, where his research focuses on climate change mitigation. Jason was lead on the Institute report Canada’s Net Zero Future: Finding Our Way in the Energy Transition, as well as The Big Switch: Powering Canada’s Net Zero Future. His work has focused on net-zero, GHG mitigation policy, energy transitions, and sustainable infrastructure.

Jason was formerly Lead Researcher at Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission and a project manager and economist at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). He serves on the board of the Canadian Association of Professionals in Climate Change (CAPCC) and is a graduate of the MA Economics program at York University.

Dr. Mark Jaccard is an internationally recognized Canadian energy economist and author. His research focuses on the design and application of energy-economy-emissions (EEE) models for assessing climate policies.

Dr. Jaccard holds the title of Distinguished Professor at Simon Fraser University and serves as Director of the School of Resource and Environmental Management (REM). Mark’s Energy and Materials Research Group (EMRG) within REM is the leading applied academic EEE modelling team in Canada. EMRG has developed and applied models that help governments and interest groups explore the quickest and most effective response to the climate emergency.

Internationally, Mark has served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, and the Global Energy Assessment, and domestically on the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, the Canadian Climate Institute, and the British Columbia Climate Solutions Council. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and in 2009 was named British Columbia Academic of the Year. Three of his books have been short-listed for the Donner Prize (top policy book in Canada) with one of them winning. His latest book is The Citizen’s Guide to Climate Success: Overcoming Myths That Hinder Progress.

Dr. Erin Mayfield is the Hodgson Family Assistant Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College. Previously she held the position of Postdoctoral Scholar, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment and the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University.

Dr. Mayfield was a co-author and key contributor to Princeton University’s Net Zero America (NZA) Initiative. She is currently collaborating on the REPEAT Toolkit, which builds on the NZA work to provide timely and independent environmental and economic evaluation of U.S. federal energy and climate policies as they develop.

Dr. Mayfield received her PhD in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Melon.

Chris Roney is a Technical Leader at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) within EPRI’s Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group. He co-manages EPRI’s economy-wide analysis program and was a lead author of EPRI’s Canadian National Electrification Assessment. His current research includes integrated modelling of economy-wide policy and end-use electrification dynamics, electric sector decarbonization, and bioenergy technology pathways.

Chris specializes in evaluating U.S. and Canadian decarbonization challenges and opportunities. Prior to joining EPRI, he was a Research Associate at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Joint Global Change Research Institute, where he researched the effects of deep decarbonization policies, evaluated the evolution of the transport system under electrification scenarios, and analyzed global climate impacts on the food system.

Chris holds a Master of Science with Distinction in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Swarthmore College.

Dr. Nidhi R. Santen is a Principal Technical Leader in the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group for EPRI International – Canada. She manages EPRI’s Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems and Integrated Energy Systems Planning programs. Her primary research areas include long-term electricity sector resource planning, risk analysis and investment decision-making under uncertainty, and environmental and technology policy analysis.

Before joining EPRI, Dr. Santen worked at the MIT Energy Initiative on low-carbon electricity infrastructure planning, electricity market design, and hybrid modeling of economy-wide and electric power systems modeling tools. She also worked as a research fellow and project manager with the Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Nidhi holds a PhD in Engineering Systems from MIT, an MS and MPA in Atmospheric Science and Environmental Policy from Indiana University-Bloomington, and a BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.