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Leonhard Birnbaum grew up in the industrial town of Ludwigshafen, Germany surrounded by industry. Later, after studying chemical engineering at university, he started his career in consulting, gradually gravitating towards the energy sector, first at RWE, then at E.ON. As the CEO of E.ON since 2021, he is leading one of Europe’s largest operators of energy networks and infrastructure, providing services to around 47 million customers.

In this episode, we discuss his early life, how his career path progressed from consulting to leading. We talk about the different stages of Europe’s energy transition to a ‘beautiful future’, discussing what’s on track and where more needs to happen.

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Episode 16 – Show Notes

21st Century Industrialists is produced by ERT and presented by Robert O'Meara. Interview recorded by Stef Lennaert. Production by Janne Jooris and Kaat Tavernier at Uitgesproken. Special thanks to Eurelectric for allowing us to use their in-house studio for this interview.

For more on ERT's insights on energy-intensive industries and on energy infrastructure (in partnership with Boston Consulting Group), visit: https://ert.eu/documents/energy2024/