A great civic alliance is born in Catalonia to demand that the ecological transition be activated

A total of ten entities from various fields are preparing the constitution of a great civic alliance to ask the Government of the Generalitat and society as a whole to activate the ecological transition in Catalonia.

The promoters will present this initiative tomorrow Saturday in an act (El futur és ara) that was born with the vocation of acting as a great engine and revulsion to introduce the socio-ecological agenda in Catalonia.

Among the entities that promote it are two recently created groups: Renovem-nos, linked to the university sector and environmental sciences, and Oikia, a space for debate that brings together people from different political families.

This movement seeks to introduce into the social and political debate two basic pillars of the scientific consensus: the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (43% by 2030 compared to 1990) in order to avoid catastrophic climate damage, and guarantee that 30% of the territory “has a well-preserved biodiversity”, according to Sergi Nuss, one of the spokespersons.

“Reducing emissions to the level required by science entails major transformations in the socioeconomic system and in public policies”, explains Sergi Nuss. “We have to explain that we must reduce emissions, and that this means more renewables and electrifying transport, domestic heating and industry,” adds Nuss.

One of the entities that support this movement, Renovem-nos, was created “to accelerate the energy transition in Catalonia with guarantees of environmental protection and citizen participation”. The entity wants to overcome the “blockade” phase in which renewable sources are in Catalonia, convinced that “small, medium and large” clean energy infrastructure is needed.

This movement urgently sees the electrification of key sectors, such as mobility and heat production. For this reason, they propose promoting rehabilitation, solving the obstacles that prevent shared self-consumption or electrifying thermal uses, to go from gas to electricity, for example, and decarbonise society at the rate required by the scientific community.

These entities want to denounce what they consider to be a delay in the energy transition, the lack of leadership and the need to set a roadmap, as shown by the increases in CO2 emissions in the last two years.

“From June 10, we need to know who is committed to presenting roadmaps in favor of an ecosocial transition in Catalonia,” they say. The intention is that the various sectors (industrial, agricultural, tourism, unions…) show the letters of their commitments.

“The climate emergency is a global and transversal challenge. Being right is of little use if we are not capable of promoting consensual transformations that materialize in real, tangible changes. This initiative is not born with the aim of pointing out guilty parties. It was born with the desire to build synergies that accelerate an ecosocial transformation that is now urgent and imminent”, says Ignasi Llorente, general secretary of Oikia, another of the promoters of this attempt to break blocks and activate the green transition.

They also want to denounce the “chronic underfunding of protected natural spaces and the shortage of personnel”, as well as “how little solvent the nature conservation policies are” in Catalonia. “Their financing is very scarce and they have suffered a large cut over the years,” they say.

“We urgently need to have the Nature Agency so that it can efficiently face the challenges derived from the ecological emergency”, claims Sandra Carreras, director of the Xarxa for the Conservation of Nature. Despite the fact that it was approved in Parliament three years ago, the Agency is still in a drawer in one of the most surprising breaches for the promoters of that movement.

“It must also be guaranteed that the Natural Heritage Fund -created with the CO2 tax from cars- is dedicated 100% to the purposes for which it was created”, which for Carrera requires establishing “transparency and access actions to information on all the projects developed with the fund”, something that is not given now.

“And the final approval of the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Law must be accelerated, and up to 40 conservation plans for endangered species must be prepared, taking into account the delay in their implementation, which has been mandatory since December 2010,” says Sandra Carreras. .

Joan Herrera, promoter of Oikia, defines this network “as a transversal and unitary space” in the field of “proactive environmentalism that is capable of setting an agenda” in the absence of transformation proposals in Catalonia.

He maintains that in Catalonia there are “very powerful actors who are refractory to environmental concerns and retardationists” of climate action, but “not actors capable of setting the agenda in environmental matters.”

Oikia brings together personalities from different backgrounds, including Mercedes Vidal, expert in Mobility; Cristina Sánchez, president of the Nature Conservation Network; Daniel Pérez, expert in regulation of the electrical system; Joaquim Sampere, professor of Sociology: Josep Rull, lawyer; Xavier Sabaté, politician who has held several positions in the PSC; Raül Romeva and Lluís Juncà (ERC); Leire Pajín, former minister of the PSOE; Francesc Mauri, meteorologist; Carme Borrell, manager of the Barcelona Public Health Agency; Bet Font, biologist and former deputy (ICV), or Manel Ferri, responsible for mobility (Diputación Barcelona).

This initiative is also supported by the association PTP, the Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya, Conservació.cat, Greenpeace, REVO, the Network of Ambassadors of the EU Climate Pact and C-Neutral 2050. CREAF also collaborates.

The event will be held tomorrow, Saturday, at the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB).

These entities have drawn up a series of country proposals structured around seven thematic axes that are considered key to accelerating the ecosocial transition in Catalonia, and that they want to place at the center of public and private policies, and that should be the basis for decisions, projects and budgets of all public administrations and the private sector operating in Catalonia, by 2030