My professional dive into the exciting world of renewable hydrogen already started in 2019, where I co-elaborated a baseline study for Chile’s National H2 Market Development Strategy. As Macroeconomist with specialization in (renewable) energy economy, aimed at driving and contributing to sustainable energy solutions and de-fossilization, stepping into the vast world of clean molecules and its multiple possible applications has been a constant challenge and steep learning curve that keeps me highly motivated every day.
The ramp-up of emerging H2 and derivatives’ markets requires a multidisciplinary view and international collaboration, it doesn’t solely involve chemical or mechanical engineers, but economists, electric engineers, environmental experts and even sociologists. I am very proud and happy to actively contribute to the H2 market development through my work as a Manager in charge of strategy consulting at HINICIO, a Brussels-based boutique consultancy with nearly 20 years of successful experience in advising both public and private clients globally.
The advisory projects I lead, mainly in LATAM and Europe, turn around identifying promising target markets and understanding their specific drivers, and how to be compliant with complex regulations and certification requirements to define robust and sustainable Power-to-X business cases and/or policies and incentives. I support in communicating market and political strategies of export – and import jurisdictions, as my international and multicultural professional and personal background allow me to understand and thus bridge both Regions’ interest and positions.
In this context, I have been leading the design of a Regional Clean H2 Certification Scheme for LAC Region, financed by IDB, onboarding 12 LAC economies and agreeing on key common denominators of production criteria with regional relevance, acting as an aligned export jurisdiction. I have also led HINICIO’s strategic and technical application support of Fertiglobe and its renewable Power-to-Ammonia-Project in Egypt, the winner of the first-of-its-kind Contracts-for-Difference (CfD) auction H2Global in 2024, which was a significant milestone for the global hydrogen market and within the existing challenge of financing and making economically feasible this kind of billion USD-investment energy projects.
Besides being speaker at several national, regional and international H2 events and conferences, my role has been training public and private stakeholders to help them understand complex regulatory issues and transfer knowledge in a comprehensive and practical case-based manner – as for example during this year in Colombia and Brazil, financed by German GIZ.
The emerging renewable H2 markets offer a huge opportunity for women to get early engaged and employed in this innovative energy field, which is why in 2023 I decided to support the global Women in Green Hydrogen (WiGH) network and bring it to LATAM, opening a Regional Chapter and setting up an excellent working group of representatives of seven different economies up to now. Together, we have been fostering the networking of female experts across LATAM, free knowledge exchange and mutual support to drive womens’ successful career paths and put female experts into spotlight by increasing their participation in conferences and events. Also at HINICIO, I have driven the empowerment of female junior and medior consultants, and we have nearly reached gender equity in our Chilean Office.
Already during University – I studied in Cologne, Germany – and before dedicating my professional efforts to supporting the sustainable energy transition of hard-to-abate sectors through clean molecules, I always seeked working in sustainable energy related topics: among others, as a working student at RWE Innogy in its Political and Regulatory Affairs Department, where I was highly empowered by my supervisors; and as an intern at GIZ’s solar energy program located within the Energy Ministry in Chile back in 2013, where I applied by own motivation and which was the start of my professional career in Chile. During my work as Senior Consultant at PwC Chile’s Sustainability and Climate Change Division, I added professional expertise and certifications in Energy Management Systems – ISO 50.000:1 – as well as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to report corporate sustainability performances.
Which take-aways can I summarize from the last 13 years of my career? Mainly the fact that having encouraging but challenging supervisors, together with own persistence, inspiration and conviction, high self-motivation and clear targets, are the ultimate ingredients for success. When studying at University in Germany I would never have imagined walking through Chile’s major copper mines with safety helmet to identify and evaluate energy efficiency measures and draft Marginal Abatement Cost Curves; neither completing a Half Ironman Triathlon in Southern Chile (doing sports to maintain the mental equilibrium is an additional success ingredient!).
But it turns out that A LOT of things are possible when being really commited to what we do, and when putting “skin in the game”. And this works much better and easier with established networks and mutual support – which motivates me to daily empower young professionals, specifically women, in my team at HINICIO and through Women in Green Hydrogen.
It may be difficult to keep a positive and optimistic view on the future of our planet, but I think without faith and motivation to contribute, according to each person’s individual possibilities, what sense does our existance make? Whenever we have the knowledge, position and tools to shape and impact decisions, we own the future generations to do it in a respectful way.
Thinking of the potential fruits of our efforts, not just focussing on each barrier or hurdle, and considering challenges as an exciting part of our lifes, is the approach I choose: both professionally, when advocating for the usefulness of clean molecules in certain hard-to-abate-sectors with no long-term feasible low-carbon alternatives in view of climate change-mitigation; and personally, looking back on the path that brang me where I stand today.
About myself
Nuria Hartmann, Manager of Strategy Consulting at HINICIO consultancy based in Santiago de Chile, Lead of Women in Green Hydrogen (WiGH) in Chile and Co-Founder of WiGH’s Regional Chapter LATAM.
German Diplom (equivalent to Master) of Regional Studies of Latin America and Macroeconomics with specialization in Energy Economics, University of Cologne (2013). Certified in ISO 50:001 and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standard and working since +10 years as international sustainability and energy consultant. Since 2019, Nuria is actively engaged in renewable hydrogen related topics, specifically markets’ regulation and certification. Nuria is a recognized expert and conference speaker in this field in LATAM, and she holds multiple publications of papers and studies in sustainability related topics, among others for APEC, IDB, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, GIZ, WWF and Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
