Keynote Address
Simon Virley is Vice Chair and Head of Energy and Natural Resources at KPMG in the UK. He leads on energy, climate change and green issues for the UK firm and is part of KPMG’s Global Energy Leadership Team. He advises some of the world’s largest companies on all aspects of the energy transition and the shift to Net Zero.
Simon has over 30 years’ experience advising on energy and climate issues. Before joining KPMG in early 2015, he spent 25 years in the UK Government, including at No10 Downing Street (where he was Private Secretary to Prime Minister Tony Blair), the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury (where he led work on ‘green taxes’) and latterly as Director General for Energy in the Department of Energy and Climate Change between 2009-15, where he led the Electricity Market Reforms (EMR) under the Coalition Government, which resulted in the share of renewables in GB power generation rising from 6% in 2008 to over 45% today.
Simon is a Fellow of the Energy Institute (FEI) and was made a Companion of the Bath (CB) in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours for his work on energy and climate change issues. He is also chairs UCL’s Centre for Net Zero Market Design, is on the Markets Advisory Council of the National Energy System Operator (NESO), the CBI Net Zero Board and the Executive Council of the Parliamentary Group on Energy Studies (PGES).