The Catalan Energy Cluster (CEEC) together with the European Commission have organized a virtual day in Brussels to bring the latest developments in environmental, energy and mobility policies to CEEC members.

The day began with an institutional welcome by Esther Izquierdo, President of the CEEC, by Marga Espino, from the Directorate General for Communication of the European Commission (DG COMM) and by Laura Rahola, Head of Communication of the European Comision in Barcelona. Afterwards, Jesús María Alquézar Sabadie, socio-economic analyst at the Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV), explained the current environmental situation and the recent actions taken by the European Commission. "We are under four environmental crises: climate, biodiversity, overexploitation of resources and pollution. All this has led to the extinction of a very large number of mammals," said Alquézar. The expert explained that all the actions promoted by the institution respond to the principles "Do no harm", as the goals of Brussels have evolved since its constitution, "firstly was to live in peace, then improve the quality of life and now the challenge is to live in a healthy continent ”.

Alquézar explained that air and water quality has improved in the last 20-30 years due to the policies promoted by the Commission.

Later, Pau Garcia Audi, a member of the Energy Efficiency, Buildings and Products Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER), explained the European energy situation and the objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Garcia placed special emphasis on the renewing wave of fixed assets: "Buildings account for 40% of the European Union's energy consumption. Our goal is that by 2030, 35 million buildings will be rehabilitated, creating up to 160,000 "green" jobs in the construction sector. " Garcia also mentioned the importance of implementing the digitization of energy in buildings. These proposals seek to both mitigate the climate crisis and address energy poverty.

Finally, Ivan Lukač, coordinator of mobility policies at the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), explained the objectives of sustainable mobility: "almost all cars, vans, buses, as well as our heavy vehicles, will have zero emissions by 2050 ”.