Repsol and the University of Barcelona create an energy transition chair

The objective of this chair is to promote knowledge, rigorous and scientific debate, research and communication on energy transition and climate change. The chair starts at the University of Barcelona under the direction of Mariano Marzo, professor of Stratigraphy and of Energy Resources and Petrol Geology -and it will later expand to other universities.

The presentation took place today in the Aula Magna of the University of Barcelona,and it was attended by the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias, the Minister of Territory and Sustainability of the Catalan Government, Damià Calvet, and the president of Repsol and its Foundation, Antoni Brufau.

Rector Joan Elias noted that this Chair is one of the initiatives launched by the UB regarding “the environmental challenge”. He also mentioned the UB commitment to the UN Agenda 2030 for the sustainable development. The rector highlighted the role of the public university, which not only trains good professionals but “free citizens, critical citizens”.

The Minister of Territory and Sustainability of the Catalan Government, Damià Calvet, explained the different actions carried out by the Generalitat in the field of climate change and expressed the need to fit the task by the government with the work in the science field. Also, he highlighted that energy transition requires “a change in the individual and collective mind”. 

Brufau stated that scientific knowledge and technological neutrality have to lead the debate on energy transition and climate change. Brufau believes a sustainable energy model has to value different sectors of the economic activity, in particular those in which de-carbonization is harder, as well as the different demographical, social and territorial realities of the world, without leaving aside social equity and creation of employment.

Then, Mariano Marzo, in his lecture “Energy transition: from commitment to action”, mentioned the new green pact, an emerging concept which refers to the need of taking the chance resulting from a fast reduction of emissions of greenhouse effect gases to work on a radical social and economic transformation which, at the same time, brings a bigger social justice. An attractive idea that should be put into practice, an aspect which, according to the director of the chair, other international pacts on the fight against climate change, such as the Paris Agreement, have not successfully reached.

An initiative against climate change

As part of the collaboration with the University of Barcelona, there will be some initiatives such as a World Observatory on Innovation on the latest advances regarding CO2 recovery and use; a challenge in which the students can present solutions against climate change, and workshops with experts and involved agents in the debate on energy transition.