The economic implications of the fight against climate change will be the focus of the Energy and Climate Change School that opens today at the Focus-Abengoa Foundation

April 12, 2010

• During the opening conference, Professor Joseph Borrell, President of the European University Institute, focused on the priority role of the European Union with regards to global warming.
• Over four days, international experts will examine the economic implications associated with reducing and controlling polluting emissions.

Seville 12 April 2010. Today at the Hospital de los Venerables, Carlos Sebastián and Daniel Villalba, lecturers and directors of Abengoa, together with Salvador Ordóñez Delgado, Vice-chancellor of the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP), and Anabel Morillo León, Director General of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation, opened a new edition of the Energy and Climate Change School that will run until Thursday 15 April, directed by Cristina Narbona, Spain’s permanent representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Following the opening, Cristina Narbona presented the program for the course entitled, The new economic reality: the emissions market, which aims to examine the economic implications associated with controlling emissions, by looking at the diverse international positions in relation to environmental policy and by studying the main measures adopted and proposed around the world to control pollution: the Kyoto Protocol, the Copenhagen Summit, among others.

One such example is the international CO₂ emissions market, which has been launched by the European Union and will involve 25 member states, affecting more than 11,000 production installations. Professor Josep Borrell, Chairman of the European University Institute, specifically referred to this initiative in the opening conference The EU and climate change, presented in the Church of the Hospital de los Venerables.

After reviewing the various projects that have been launched since 1988, coinciding with the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Professor Borrell analysed the role of the European Union in the fight against climate change, a priority of the environmental policy of the 25 nations that “is currently insufficient, despite being on the right course. The current rate of carbon emissions is unsustainable, which places even greater emphasis, if possible, on the need to promote an industrial and economic revolution with lower carbon emissions and significant social and associated structural changes”.

The President of the European University Institute pointed out that “the European Union must drastically reduce its energy requirements and move towards an energy system based on higher energy efficiency to reduce consumption, and on the development of renewable energies that allow production to continue without increasing emissions, as well as having carbon storage systems in order to neutralise the impact of unavoidable emissions. This change is possible, but it requires a solid commitment and huge political will from everyone”.

The session tomorrow morning will begin with a presentation by Laura Cozzi, a member of the Economic Analysis Department of the International Energy Agency, who will focus on the costs and benefits of the fight against climate change.

She will be followed by Santiago Rubio, Professor of Economics and winner of the Lucas Mallada Prize for Economics and the Environment 2009, who will reflect on the scope and the effectiveness of the numerous international agreements that have been implemented over the last decade in order to minimise the effects of human activity on the environment and to promote global sustainable development.

In the afternoon, the School will move to the Palmas Altas Campus, the new corporate headquarters of Abengoa which, thanks to the architect Sir Richard Rogers, has become the best example of the Company’s commitment to the fight against climate change, and therefore to sustainable architecture. This will be the setting for the director of the current edition of the School, Cristina Narbona, to analyse the instruments for international coordination developed to fight against and to adapt to climate change. Her presentation will be followed by a tour of the facilities of the new complex.

Today’s encounter between senior members of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation and Menéndez Pelayo International University has helped to renew the collaboration agreement between both institutions, which since 2004 has resulted in the organisation of two triennial schools, which hold their programs and activities during the autumn and the spring at the Hospital de los Venerables, turning the headquarters of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation into a forum for reflection with the support of international lecturers and researchers.

The school forms part of the Focus-Abengoa Forum on Energy and Climate Change, which aims to promote, through public discussions, a genuine open platform for the research, presentation and debate of ideas and results through those actions that it believes are relevant at any given time based on the nature of the issues to be analysed. Furthermore, the School aims to encourage a wide-ranging and open debate so that it can incorporate and compare as many alternative initiatives as it deems appropriate in relation to renewable energy, with all the aspects related to climate change

Program: Tuesday 13, Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 April. (http://focus.abengoa.es)

Tuesday 13 April

(Hospital de los Venerables, Focus-Abengoa Foundation)

• 10:00. The costs and benefits of the fight against climate change. Laura Cozzi, International Energy Agency.
• 11:30. Break
• 12:00. Scope and effectiveness of international environmental agreements. Santiago Rubio, Professor of Economics (Valencia University) and winner of the Lucas Mallada Prize for Economics and the Environment 2009.

(Palmas Altas Campus, corporate headquarters of Abengoa)

• 17:00. Instruments for international coordination to adapt to and fight against climate change. Cristina Narbona, Spain’s permanent representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• 18:00. Visit to the facilities of the Palmas Altas Campus.

Wednesday 14 April

(Hospital de los Venerables, Focus-Abengoa Foundation)

• 09:30. The costs of generating electricity: transition towards a more sustainable model and public policies. Gustavo Marrero, Project Researcher Focus-Abengoa/FEDEA (Universidad de La Laguna).
• 11:00. Visit to the Solúcar Platform of Abengoa Solar. (Sanlúcar la Mayor, Seville)
• 17:00. Actions against climate change post-2010: gradual construction of a global carbon market. Rob Dellink, analyst of the environment council of the OECD.
• 18:30. Business strategies for climate change. Emilio Rodríguez-Izquierdo, Director General of Zeroemissions.

Thursday 15 April

(Hospital de los Venerables, Focus-Abengoa Foundation)

• 10:00. Mexico: one year on. Will it be possible? Manuel Marín, President of the Iberdrola Foundation.
• 11:30. Break.
• 12:00. Market instruments for environmental policy. Transferable licences and environmental taxes. Frank Convery, University College (Dublin) and Honorary President of the European Association of Environmental Economists.
• 16:30. Round table: The future of international coordination in environmental matters.
• 18:00. Final considerations and conclusions. Cristina Narbona, Spain’s permanent representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• 18:30. Closing session. Teresa Ribera, Secretary of State for Climate Change.

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