The Focus-Abengoa Foundation presents the third seminar of the “Road to Paris 2015” series as part of the Energy Transition and Climate Change Forum

July 13, 2015

13 July 2015.- The Focus-Abengoa Foundation today held the third seminar in this series entitled “The role of business and society in the energy transition and combatting climate change”, as part of the sessions taking place in the Energy Transition and Climate Change Forum. These seminars are intended is to promote discussion about the state of international climate change negotiations and the prospects for an international agreement in Paris at the end of the year.

The seminar featured speeches by Josep Borrell Fontelles, director of the Energy Transition and Climate Change Forum and vice-chairman of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation; María Mendiluce, director of climate and energy at the Word Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), who highlighted the support received by businesses that want to take action against climate change and are jostling to take pole position in the race towards a low-carbon future; Emilio de las Heras, author of the climate change and economy blog in the newspaper Expansión, who discussed the causes of climate change, the potential technological solutions and their economic impact, and the legislative solutions that would be required to “decarbonise” the economy in a structured way; and Domingo Jiménez Beltrán, chairman and co-founder of the Renovables Foundation, who said that, “the challenge is not technology or the economy, but about politics and justice. The fossil fuel era is coming to an end because there are better renewable options available”. The third seminar ended with a speech by Teresa Ribera, director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, who spoke about the situation of the country contributions being proposed with regards to the Paris 2015 summit. Following on from the talks, a debate was held between participants and speakers about the possibilities for completing the energy transition and the speed at which it will occur.

This is the third event that the Energy Transition and Climate Change Forum has held in Madrid, featuring various experts in this field, intended to encourage cohesion and discussion about an agreement on climate change.

The Focus-Abengoa Forum on Energy and Climate Change organises public debates to provide a genuine and open platform for investigating, publicising and debating ideas and results, as well as taking other actions that it believes are relevant at any given time, depending on the characteristics of the issues to be analysed.

Focus-Abengoa Foundation

The Focus-Abengoa Foundation was created in 1982 as a result of the cultural work begun in 1972 by Abengoa with the publication of the works Temas Sevillanos (Themes of Seville) and Iconografía de Sevilla (Iconography of Seville). A collection of documents, books and engravings on the Kingdom of Seville and by Sevillian authors was created during the same period. This initial cultural work showed Abengoa’s directors the importance of the company’s involvement in activities that directly benefit society, beyond the firm’s core technology work, which led to the creation of the Seville Cultural Fund Foundation. The Hospital de los Venerables, a 17th century monument and the headquarters of the Focus-Abengoa Foundation in Seville, has housed the Diego Velázquez Research Centre, a leading institution for studying and disseminating the Baroque era and the Sevillian period of this universally renowned artist, since the acquisition of Velázquez’s “Santa Rufina” by the Foundation in 2007. The focus on this crucial era of the Golden Age is complemented with the legacy from Professor Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez, bequeathed to the Foundation in 2011. It comprises his library, photo library, personal archive and art collection and is being catalogued to help create a library specialising in the art and culture of the Baroque period. http://focus.abengoa.es/

For more information:

Abengoa Communication Department

Patricia Malo de Molina

Tel: +34 954 93 71 11

Email: communication@abengoa.com

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