Closed a few days ago in Dubai, COP 28 marked the beginning of the end of fossil fuels, the main causes of climate change, and urged countries to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy efficiency by 2030 to achieve zero. emissions in 2050. A historic milestone that now forces states to increase their ambition and move towards a world with more health, more and better employment and more energy security.
Dialogues in La Vanguardia, in collaboration with Iberdrola, debated the need for decarbonization. Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera, director of Climate Change and Alliances at Iberdrola, participated in the round table; Inés García-Pintos, patron of the Ecodes Foundation; Carlos Bravo, Senior Transportation Policy Advisor at Transport
Dialogues in La Vanguardia, in collaboration with Iberdrola, debated the need for decarbonization. Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera, director of Climate Change and Alliances at Iberdrola, participated in the round table; Inés García-Pintos, patron of the Ecodes Foundation; Carlos Bravo, Senior Transportation Policy Advisor at Transport
“We have to move faster, accelerate the transition and do it in this decade,” said Sáenz de Miera. The EPhysLab researcher supported this statement with data from Copernicus, the European weather prediction center. In 2015, she explained, the models said that the 1.5º temperature increase would be achieved in 2045; Today we are already talking about 2034. Other studies talk about 2027. “We have little time and it is getting shorter,” Bayo added.
The decarbonization of the economy is a “big, necessary and urgent” challenge, declared the Iberdrola representative. Not in vain, 80% of our energy consumption is based on fossil fuels and, this reality, added the Transport advisor
But no matter how big, this paradigm shift is impossible. Everyone agreed that it is feasible because “the technologies to do it exist.” “To take advantage of it, and this decade is key, we need policies and alliances.” Transportation and construction are two sectors that, in the opinion of experts, can be decarbonized quickly. In road transport, the best and most efficient way is electrification, Bravo explained. In construction, replacing boilers with heat pumps, mandatory in new construction.
Regarding tripling the capacity of renewable energy, the Iberdrola manager judged the objective to be “technically and economically feasible”, but warned that not only do we have to go faster, but other issues are needed, such as electrical networks, which They have to come before renewables. To overcome social rejection, GarcíaPintos prescribed a lot of pedagogy and Sáenz de Miera a lot of work with local communities “to co-create solutions and contribute to their development” by attracting, for example, suppliers that generate jobs. “The visual impact of renewables is reversible. What does not have an impact that is easy to disappear is an oil spill, like that of the 'Prestige,'" said Bravo, who explained that by using between 3% and 4% of the territory our economy can be completely decarbonized. At this point, Bayo advocated research to improve processes and achieve new solutions. “Maybe in 10 years we can remove the mills,” he stressed.
Spain can become an EU energy hub. “We have all the resources to achieve it; “We have technology, the best renewable resources, territory and a good industrial base,” said Sáenz de Miera. Thanks to renewables, Spain can have more competitive and cheaper energy than the rest of Europe, what it is about is using this advantage to attract industries. “In the end this is an industrial revolution,” he stated, to warn that we must get our act together because there is global competition to take advantage of these opportunities.
Also in terms of employment, decarbonization is an opportunity. For every job destroyed in fossil fuels, two are generated in renewables and for every million euros invested in clean technologies, 12 jobs are generated. “Jobs for the future,” emphasized Sáenz de Miera. The bottleneck is now the lack of qualified employment. Hence, the speakers advocated seeking alliances with universities and FP.c in training.
