Climate Action Summit: time for action
The Government of Catalonia has established a roadmap with commitments so that all organizations can join in the fight against climate change.
Catalonia, in line with the European Union and other countries, has declared a climate emergency. Society is beginning to be aware of the great risk posed by global warming of the planet and the feeling is beginning to take hold that the time has come to take action and take significant steps to change the current socio-economic model. Without going any further, the serious effects of the Gloria storm or the autumn floods in our territory are still recent.
In this context, the Department of Territory and Sustainability has promoted the 1st Catalan Summit on Climate Action, which has established a common roadmap for all sectors of society, administrations, companies and industries to actively commit to the fight against climate change. The main objective is to reduce total emissions by 40% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality and a system with 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Beyond strict compliance with legal obligations, the agreed roadmap makes explicit a series of global and other sectoral commitments that all organisations can adhere to in order to achieve these objectives.
The main general commitments agreed upon are:
- To adhere to the objective of making Catalonia carbon neutral by 2050. Examples of actions would be a plan to reduce emissions, joining the Generalitat de Catalunya’s voluntary agreement programme, obtaining EMAS environmental management system certification, etc.
- Deepen the knowledge of the climate impact of the activity, by calculating the carbon footprint or publishing the results obtained, among other aspects.
- Disseminate and promote the climate commitment, committing to training and awareness of staff and the inclusion of the climate commitment in corporate codes of ethics.
- Reducing the climate impact of mobility. The main actions could be aimed at renewing the vehicle fleet by replacing them with zero emission vehicles, favouring public transport, promoting teleworking, etc.
- Promote the energy transition. Some measures to be adopted would be to improve energy efficiency in lighting and air conditioning, to contract electricity from renewable sources, to replace fuel for boilers with biofuels, biogas or other derivatives of biomass, etc.
How can we contribute from our organization?
All interested organizations can adhere, on a voluntary basis, to these commitments to act against the climate emergency. This involves filling out a form in which each entity must indicate the specific commitments it makes, to the extent of its capabilities, from among the various options proposed.
This is undoubtedly a very interesting initiative for all organizations, whether public or private, to take a step forward and act responsibly by contributing to the goal of carbon neutrality.
From the Sustainability area of AddVANTE we remain at your disposal to expand on this information, to resolve any doubts that may arise in relation to this article or to help in the development of specific projects related to the fight against climate change.
