Dr. Christian Thiel

Christian Thiel works in the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) since 2009, amongst others in the Energy Systems Evaluation Unit and Sustainable Transport Unit. Since February 2018 he is Head of the Energy Efficiency and Renewables Unit in the Directorate for Energy, Transport and Climate. The unit's mission is to support the deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, measures and policies. It provides support in the implementation of key EU Directives such as the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Directives. These activities are conducted in collaboration with relevant Commission Services, national and International organisations and stakeholders. In addition, the Unit provides reference measurements and test methods for photovoltaic technologies. Previously, Christian was leader of the electro-mobility modelling and energy system modelling projects within the JRC.

Before joining the European Commission, Christian Thiel worked for more than 12 years in the automotive industry, in the Engineering Centre of Adam Opel AG/ General Motors Europe. During his tenure at Opel/ General Motors, Christian had various assignments with increasing responsibility, ranging from Technical Staff for Waste Management Systems, Project Engineer Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Assistant General Secretary European Council for Automotive R&D (EUCAR) in Brussels to Manager Portfolio Engineering and CO2 Strategy, and European Program Engineering Manager Chevrolet Volt/ Opel Ampera.

He holds a Doctoral degree (Dr.nat.techn.) from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, a Master's degree in Environmental Science (Geooekologie) from the Technical University Braunschweig, a bachelor's degree in Biology from Université Paris VI and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. Christian has published 39 papers in peer-reviewed journals (with an h-factor of 17 according to Scopus).