Contemporary society is undergoing extraordinary transformation with major consequences for the energy sector – a key industry with respect to socio-economic progress. Global GDP is forecast to double by 2050 and the world’s population will reach 9.8 billion. Given this context, it is essential to tackle climate change and environmental protection, promoting the efficient and sustainable use of available resources. This requires a stable, transparent regulatory framework that enables balanced, competitive energy transition.
Energy transition refers to the process of decarbonizing the economy, seeking to minimize the impact and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels through progressive replacement with energy from renewable sources and sources producing lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as by improving energy efficiency. It is also essential to foster the development of new technologies such as emission capture and use, besides encouraging evolution towards a more sustainable production structure.
This relentless, worldwide commitment to future generations additionally represents an opportunity to drive the growth and well-being of countries at the forefront in transforming their energy systems. Spain must be a key player in this industrial and technological revolution, not only in order to drive economic progress, but also to develop technology solutions that compete on a world scale. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to put in place structural policies that maximize the economic impact of the process and that, in addition to modifying the generation and consumption of energy, contribute to the transformation of our productive structure and society as a whole. Energy transition therefore constitutes a catalyst towards a new, more sustainable economic model in which new opportunities for business, investment, innovation, internationalization and job creation will flourish.
As a civil society organization pursuing the common interests of Spain, in the Círculo de Empresarios we believe that designing a balanced, competitive energy transition requires an agreed national strategy with a long-term outlook. With this in mind, it is important that the forthcoming Climate Change and Energy Transition Act (Ley de Cambio Climático y Transición Energética) is devised under principles of good governance and institutional collaboration, with regulatory stability and certainty, transparency and competitiveness, fiscal efficiency and the fostering of technological innovation. In other words, it must lay the foundations for a stable regulatory framework, with a roadmap that confers certainty to all economic stakeholders and that is backed by the political, institutional, business and social realms of our country.
