The technologies that facilitate decarbonisation ‘are varied and it’s very important to reduce their costs and increase their robustness’, based on green hydrogen, the use of biogas, the development of batteries to store renewable energy, advanced technologies to separate and capture gases, new materials and digital technologies, according to Miquel Rovira, the director of Eurecat’s Sustainability Division.
Decarbonisation, he says, ‘will make it possible to increase companies’ competitiveness by lowering costs and risks, reducing carbon footprint, satisfying customers, often increasing the quality of products and, for some, being ahead of the legislation’.
To move forward with this dynamic, however, ‘the sum of a set of different actions and technological hybridisation’ will be necessary, combining ‘increased process efficiency, the implementation of emerging production systems, the use of low-carbon energy sources, capturing emitted emissions and possibly using or sequestering them’, stresses Rovira, speaking on World Environment Day, celebrated on 5 June.
In his opinion, it is necessary to strengthen technological development in order to find new solutions for the decarbonisation of the productive sector, taking into account that ‘every industry has its particularities to achieve this milestone and the regulations influence this differently’.
As he explains, ‘climate neutrality occurs when greenhouse gas emissions are balanced by an equivalent removal from the atmosphere over a given period of time’. In this respect, Europe has set the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and is promoting a set of measures included in the so-called Fit for 55 that must make it possible to step up the greenhouse gas reduction target from the current 40 per cent to 55 per cent with regard to emissions between 1990 and 2030.
In this context, ‘the aspects linked to sustainability have a key influence on business strategy’, where ‘the creation of value and climate neutrality are an opportunity to improve the economy’s entire value chain’, notes Eurecat’s Sustainability director.
From this perspective, ‘achieving decarbonisation and climate neutrality has unprecedented environmental, economic and social implications’, Rovira adds, noting that, for him, ‘the role of technology is essential’, as well as the prospect of ‘gaining sovereignty, inasmuch as we stop importing energy’.
