The celebration of World Environment Day – today, June 5 – invites us to reflect on the climate emergency and assess how we are doing. For this purpose, Dialogues at La Vanguardia has brought together five professionals from the business world who are very involved in this challenge to share opinions and reflect aloud on the progress, opportunities and obstacles that surround what is probably the main challenge facing humanity.
The European Union has set itself the challenge of achieving climate neutrality in 2050. This means that by that date the levels of greenhouse gas emissions and those that are removed by various procedures must be balanced. Something that is currently far from being a reality. The good news is that the vast majority of companies have embraced this goal and made it a commitment. Even in highly polluting industrial sectors, the purpose of reducing the carbon footprint is part of the corporate culture.
"Companies that do not place economic, environmental and social sustainability at the center of their business have very little way to go," explains Marta Angerri, director of European Financing and Public Affairs, Sustainability and CSR at Grup Ametller Origen. Along the same lines, Xavier Ribera, director of Communication, Institutional Relations and Sustainability at Basf Spain, assures that "it is a matter of survival".
What is at stake is life on Earth as we know it and the time to find solutions is running out. Xavier Bernat, director of Climate Action of Aigües de Barcelona, claims "the driving role of companies in the process of collective transformation that allows us to move towards climate neutrality". In the opinion of Elvira Carles, director of the Fundación Empresa y Clima, "the luck of the companies that are doing things right in environmental matters, with a high degree of awareness". For this expert, businessmen think about what will happen in 25 or 30 years, while politicians "make short-term decisions, at most eight years ahead." And despite the absolute emergency situation we are experiencing, policies that are sustained over time are needed to achieve results.
The environmental consultant Ivan Capdevila, general director of the Estudi Ramon Folch, highlights that, on a global scale, "the EU and European companies lead the fight against the climate emergency". This means that many countries end up adopting part of the European legislation.
A decisive factor is becoming aware that “this is a challenge to which we can all contribute, but that it is impossible for us to overcome alone”, says Xavier Bernat. The director of Aigües de Barcelona highlights that in line with this certainty, "a month ago we launched the Climate Action Hub, a collective work space in which we share challenges, experiences, solutions and objectives for the climate with our value chain to reinforce everyone's commitment and reach climate neutrality”.
“The challenge we face is so enormous that without alliances it is not possible to move forward”, considers Xavier Ribera. The BASF director assures that "technology is essential and most are still very incipient, so they must be encouraged and their development encouraged". This means that "most of the alliances are now with our competitors and, in general, with people with whom we never thought we would collaborate," he concludes.
For Marta Angerri there is no doubt: "Of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN in 2015, the most important is the last one: building alliances." The food chain director believes that thanks to this spirit of cooperation "we can transform the sector through technology and green energy, something impossible just ten years ago".
For Elvira Carles, one of the green shoots that grows in the midst of the climate alarm situation in which we live "is that young people are very aware of decarbonisation and a sustainable life model." All experts agree with this point of view, although they think that we do not have time to wait for these young people to lead society and take action. "That is why the work of companies in favor of climate neutrality with horizons in 2030, 2040 and 2050 is very important," says Capdevila. The environmental consultant believes that "what each citizen can do individually to reduce their carbon footprint" is also relevant.
Xavier Bernat points out that, although there is still a long way to go, "it is important that companies measure our progress year after year to realize that we are moving in the right direction to curb the contribution to the climate emergency and adapt to its already irreversible effects" .
