Natalia Fabra delivers keynote lecture at WCERE 2026

Natalia Fabra delivered a keynote lecture at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists, held at NOVA University in Lisbon, Portugal.

In her lecture, “Energy Crises, Policy Responses, and Distributional Effects,” she discussed why energy crises should be understood not as isolated shocks, but as recurring consequences of fossil-fuel dependence. Drawing on the recent European energy crisis, she explained how gas price spikes are transmitted to electricity markets, creating large windfall rents for some producers while increasing costs for consumers.

The lecture then focused on policy responses, with particular attention to the Iberian Solution adopted by Spain and Portugal in 2022. Natalia presented evidence on how the intervention affected electricity prices, generators’ profits, emissions, and household bills across the income distribution.

A key takeaway was that the distributional effects of energy crises and energy policies are central to their economic and political consequences. The talk concluded by highlighting the role of renewable energy expansion as a long-term protection against future fossil-fuel price shocks.

Links to the lecture slides and the full speech.