Christian Zinglersen appointed new director of ACER

Christian Zinglersen has been appointed as director of the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) by the Administrative Board of the ACER.

The designation followed a favorable opinion from the Board of Regulators. Zinglersen’s term of office is five years (renewable once for up to five years) as of 1 January 2020, ACER said on its website.

Zinglersen will succeed Alberto Pototschnig, the first director of the Agency, who has been instrumental in establishing and leading the Agency over the last nine years and in delivering on its extensive and growing mandate.

“Thanks to his pioneering work and leadership as well as the key contribution of the 28 NRAs, the Agency’s success has been widely recognized,” ACER said.​

Zinglersen is currently the first Head of the global Clean Energy Ministerial Secretariat hosted at the International Energy Agency in Paris

Zinglersen is currently the first Head of the global Clean Energy Ministerial Secretariat hosted at the International Energy Agency in Paris (IEA). He previously served as Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities, and Climate, where he was a member of the Ministry’s Executive Board responsible inter alia for the energy policy portfolio.

He served as the Danish government’s representative and Vice-Chair of the IEA’s Governing Board and was the Danish participant in the Director-General meetings on energy policy within the European Union. Prior to that, he served as the Danish government’s head of the global climate negotiations, culminating in Denmark’s Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2012.

He served as the Danish government’s head of the global climate negotiations

Zinglersen started his career in the Danish Foreign Service where he focused on EU policy and law, having been posted to Brussels at the Danish Permanent Representation to the European Union. For a number of years, he taught Union law at the University of Copenhagen. He holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Copenhagen and is a graduate of IESE Business School’s Advanced Management Program and Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Managers in Government program.

The Chair of the Board of Regulators, Clara Poletti, said that with the implementation of the new Clean Energy Package framework, the Agency will play an even more prominent role in European energy regulation.