Luke Mills (BloombergNEF)

“Now that clean power is cheap, focus within the power trilemma has moved to solving the issue of intermittency and how to provide clean forms of flexibility in a market that will efficiently remunerate these technologies”.

Gonzalo Sáenz de Miera (Iberdrola)

“We have the technologies to change energy models, companies are ready to invest, banks ready to finance… What we need are ambitious short, medium and long term targets, to remove existing barriers and strong policies to achieve those targets”.

Solange Ribeiro (Neoenergia)

“A successful energy transition towards a cleaner profile, even in countries with a large supply of renewable resources, requires the engagement of all stakeholders and the development of well-built fiscal, financial and regulatory mechanisms, in order to ensure this trajectory”.

Jacopo Tattini (IEA)

“GHG emissions from fossil fuels combustion have been changing the atmospheric and oceanic chemistry. Reversing this trend by adopting zero-carbon technologies is the main challenge of our time and has to happen fast to meet the commitments of the Paris agreement (web)”.

Kenneth Michaels (IEA)

“In order to transition to clean energy at the least cost, we need to dramatically increase investment science and technology research”.

Eyal Ben-Zwi (SEforALL)

“Energy is a critical part in tackling climate change and advancing humanity to the next level of development”.

María de la Fuente (Peace Boat)

“The ecological transition is basically a transition of mindsets, towards more empathy, more solidarity, more transparency and more integrity”.

J: Cattaneo (Ayuda en Acción)

“Moving towards a greener economy is creating opportunities for new technologies, investment and jobs. At the same time, environmental change and in particular climate change has detrimental effects on certain economic sectors and can cause job losses. Identifying and providing the right skills for new and existing jobs can smooth transitions to greener economies and ensure that new opportunities benefit a broader share of society” .

Ana Barreira (IIDMA)

“We live in a world in constant transformation which requires adaptation, this can be achieved through transition. Fighting climate change affects us including the way we earn our living. Resisting to change is the wrong strategy. Just transition for ALL is the path to follow to take advantage of the new opportunities brought by the new economic model to be established to win that fight”.

Marine Gorner (IEA)

“Taking climate action now is essential and we must leave no one behind in the process. Securing clean energy access for all and seeking solutions for populations most at risk from climate disruptions should be a top priority in climate negotiations”.

Gonzalo SM (Iberdrola)

“The fight against climate change requires alliances that bring in all the agents involved, paying attention to the most vulnerable groups, communities and sectors. We have to transform the whole economic system, and in particular the way in which we produce and use energy. The challenge is such that neither companies, nor governments nor civil society can move forward alone”.

Carlos Sallé (Iberdrola)

“The transition to a low carbon economy has a big potential for job creation. A paradigmatic example can be found in naval shipyards that have managed to reinvent themselves by constructing different components of offshore wind power plants. This search for novel, imaginative and synergistic solutions is crucial”.

Ibon Galarraga (Basque Centre for Climate Change)

“Nature usually offers the best solutions to protect life in the planet. Recognising its role, protecting it and restoring damaged ecosystem is probably one of the smartest things we can do to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Protecting nature is investing in our future”.

Iván Martinez Castro (Spanish Office for Climate Change)

“Many ecosystems, notably in the Mediterranean area, are already suffering the effects of climate change. We just can´t afford to lose the irreplaceable environmental, social and economic functions that they offer. An adequate management of land use and forests is needed to preserve and enhance the environment and its services, while providing huge climate benefits, now and in the future”.

Suzana Khan (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

“The ocean contains 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere, and it currently acts to reduce the pace of climate change, but this is at the expense of its warming and expansion with effects still little known”.

“Adaptation through ecosystems is one of the best forms of climate adaptation. It refers to the maintenance of natural systems as a means of protecting climatic changes such as the mangroves that protect the coast from rising sea levels”.

Ángel Cano (Climate Reality Project)

“Only an informed society is capable of activating itself and giving the answer needed by the environmental crisis”.

“Positive awareness is very effective but without forgetting the dimension of the problem”.

Juan Luis Cano (journalist)

“Even though it may sound risky, the sense of humour can be a good way of making the population aware of the necessity of acting against climate change”.

Carlos Sallé (Iberdrola)

“We need to change narratives and explain to citizens that decarbonizing the economy is less costly than non-decarbonizing, because we are already paying huge costs included in our health and infrastructures budgets to deal with the problems produced due to the burning of fossil fuels”.

Chema Sarri (Peace Boat)

“Climate education will be a crucial tool in turning the tide on this fight, from children learning to recycle in schools to youth realizing the beauty of the ocean; to corporations implementing sustainable business practices; to the public supporting climate-friendly policies and voting for responsible representatives”.

Víctor Viñuales (Spanish Network UN Global Compact)

“In order to build a low carbon economy, we need to change laws, technology and values. Multi-actor alliances are essential to achieve this integral change”.

Marina Grossi (CEBDS)

“Companies with a strategic vision cannot disregard climate risk and carbon pricing initiatives, such as that led by CEBDS, that are of extreme importance in order to predict investments in the coming years”.

“Carbon pricing, internal and voluntary, is already adopted in more than 600 companies worldwide. In Brazil, 16 companies already implement internal pricing and another 27 will adopt it until 2019. This decision may reduce future regulatory risks”.

Solange Ribeiro (Neoenergia)

“Companies are essential players for the decarbonization of the economy, and the electric power sector is one of the main vectors of this evolution. Long-term investments in technologies, such as the digitalization of the electricity system through smart grids and micro grids, will allow the expansion of distributed generation and will positively impact on the reduction of GHG emissions”.

Robyn McGuckin (P4G)

“Private sector investment of $100B per year is needed to realize climate and sustainable development goals. Leading business institutes need to do more to advance and promote the most successful of the existing, profitable business models to rapidly catalyze additional market entrants.”

“Public private partnerships will transform green economic growth and are critical to capturing the $26 Trillion-dollar opportunity presented by climate smart goals.”

Ana Hajduka (AfricaGreenCO)

“We need to promote business unusual ideas for global impact. The IMF recently said that low income countries need extra outlays of 14 % of GDP for SDGs. For clean energy in Africa we need to leverage regional power pools to de-risk and de-link from single sovereign fiscal impact”.

“Renewable have the potential to transform the energy sector in Africa whilst providing clean energy to the vast majority of people without power. To do so partnership around new business models between the private and public sector is required – we can’t do today’s job with yesterday’s methods and methods need to be context respectful and specific”.

Víctor Viñuales (Spanish Network UN Global Compact)

“The transition to a low carbon economy will create new business opportunities for “climate-friendly” business models”.

Carlos Calvo (T&E)

“Technology and behavioural changes are needed to bring all transport emissions to zero by 2050 at the very latest. The very few or many vehicles in our roads will need to run on clean electricity. The last vehicle using petrol, diesel or gas in Europe should be sold in the early 2030s”.

Elizabeth Press (IRENA)

“Energy transition is not a future event, it is a feature of today’s decision-making and people’s livelihoods”.

“IRENA estimates that 90% of energy emission reductions can be met by 2050 with deployment of RE/EE”.

“With electricity accounting for only 20% of the TFEC, progress in transport, heat and cooling is of the essence”.

“167 GW of the new RE capacity was installed in 2017; solar and wind accounted for 85% of this growth”.

“IRENA estimates that, by 2020, all current RE power generation technologies will be fully competing with traditional sources”.

Laura Merril (IISD)

“Governments and business need to switch to low-carbon energy fast. Billions of dollars of government subsidies are still being wasted on fossil fuels, from kerosene to coal, every single year. Governments need to remove subsidies to fossil fuels and invest in a better future. These subsidies send us backwards, and they lock us in on a road to nowhere”.

Global fossil fuel subsidies work out at about USD 400 for every car in the world, every single year. Imagine what we could do if governments switched those subsidies for pedal power instead?’
Solange Ribeiro (Neoenergía): Companies are essential players for the decarbonization of the economy, and the electric power sector is one of the main vectors of this evolution. Long-term investments in technologies, such as the digitalization of the electricity system through smart grids and micro grids, will allow the expansion of distributed generation and will positively impact on the reduction of GHG emissions”.

Jacopo Tattini (IEA)

“A new development model more respectful of the ecological limits of the Earth is needed. Policy measures and carbon pricing should be introduced to steer individuals, community groups and the private sector towards a low-carbon future”.

Pedro Linares (Pontifical Comillas University, Madrid)

“Mobilising society is essential: we must transform deeply buildings and transport, and that cannot be done without societal action. Economic signals are essential, but also updated social norms”.

Gonzalo SM (Iberdrola)

“Achieving net zero emissions by 2050 is a viable target which involves positive impacts for people, economy and businesses. Electricity solutions will be crucial to achieve zero emissions, mainly through energy efficiency improvements and the deployment of renewable energy”.