Year 2019 was the second hottest of all time. A perfect ending to the -also- hottest decade (2010-2019) in history. It seems clear that it is no longer a theory, a future, or of course a dogma of faith, subject to whether one believes it or not. There is no place in the world that has not already experienced the effects of climate change, even in the face of dramatic situations. According to Greenpeace data, lAnnual losses from climate-related catastrophes alone reach hundreds of billions of dollarsNot to mention the human impact of geophysical catastrophes – 91 percent are climate related. Climate change is affecting everyone, altering national economies and affecting the lives of every individual on the planet. Crop damage, droughts, health problems, extreme events such as damage, storms and hurricanes… Weather systems are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more and more extreme, and even so, carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere rose to record levels in 2019. Global warming is causing permanent changes in the climate system with consequences that may be irreversible if urgent action is not taken now.
Put like this, all of a sudden, everything described above seems like a barrage of bad news, an unsolvable problem, but nothing could be further from the truth. Aware of the problem, the states assumed the reality of climate change as their own through the Paris Agreement, approved in 2015, aims to strengthen a global response to the threat posed by climate change. The goal, broadly speaking, is to keep the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees from pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement is the manifestation of a global commitment to comply with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 13, an ‘Action for climate’ that it would be an impossible mission without the participation of all the actors involved: the countries and their governments, big companies, small companies and, of course, each individual.
Governments have the first word. In Andalusia, Andalusian Plan of Action for the Climate (PAAC), the general planning instrument of the Junta de Andalucía for the fight against global warming that extends the Law 8/2018 on Climate Change of Andalusia, has just been released to public information. There are reasons for optimism because Climate action has been a part of the Andalusian economy’s day-to-day life for a long time. Regional industry, for example, has taken the lead and is an example of continuous effort to reduce emissions. Only the industrial centers of Campo de Gibraltar and Huelva have spent decades investing billions of euros in environmental plans that now go further: energy efficiency, circular economy, recycling and reuse … energy sector, which is the one that contributes the most to CO2 emissions into the atmosphere due to its origin from fossil fuels, it has also channeled into Andalusia a large part of its greener investments. As of January of this year, Andalusian renewables recorded a production close to 40% of total electricity generation in the region. According to data from the Andalusian Energy Agency renewable energies ended 2019 with 1,112 new megawatts, which represents a total renewable power of 7,512.8 megawatts (18% more than in the previous year). Forecasts suggest that Andalusia will continue to be a national power in renewables. Currently there are investment projects of large companies that exceed 17,000 million euros, and the Andalusian aspiration is to almost quadruple the current power to exceed 25,600 megawatts on the horizon of 2030, no less than 45% of the goal set in the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (Pniec). The change in the energy paradigm in Andalusia goes beyond the large companies in the sector. According to data from the Andalusian Energy Agency, the number of installations in self-consumption (of electricity grid consumers that generate their own electricity from renewable sources) at the end of 2019 exceeded the figure of 2,700, multiplied by seven the number of installations in 2018. In 2017 there were 134. In total, there are more than 32 megawatts in photovoltaic installations for self-consumption in the region.
Also SMEs
The Andalusian SME also has a lot to say about its commitment to Climate Action. Knowing the strategic importance of the economic and social importance of the implementation in Andalusian society and its companies of the 2030 Agenda, The Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Andalusia (CEA) has set out to lead the business initiative through an operational entity that leads such action: the OECA (Business Observatory for the Achievement of the 2030 Agenda), an economic, business and social Observatory that is in charge of coordinate the actions of the private sector to comply with the SDGs and whose essential objective is to facilitate an environment favorable to the sustainable growth of Andalusian companies by channeling actions through discussion forums, institutional representation or promotion initiatives in the business community, among other things.
At the individual level they are thousands of Andalusian SMEs that are doing their part, not without difficulty in some cases, in this race against global warming. Technology and ideas, some larger and others smaller, but all necessary, which go from the acquisition of fleets of ‘green’ vehicles to simpler changes such as the rational use of water, recycling actions or reducing energy consumption in offices. The Andalusian company is increasingly aware that climate change can impede the sustainable development of society and its own businesses, by extension, but also that it can, even should, be considered as a market opportunity and improvement of competitiveness. In short, an opportunity to become a better company to build a better world.
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