Last Wednesday, 2nd of July, Miguel García Jones, member of the cabinet of the European Commissioner for Climate, Zero Emissions and Clean Growth, Wopke Hoekstra, presented in the premises of the Chamber the initiatives of the cabinet in its mission to decarbonise the European Union.

The presentation began with a brief introduction by the President of the Chamber, Pablo López Álvarez, who framed the event in the line of events of the Chamber that seeks to follow up the policies of the Commission.

Mr García Jones then opened the presentation by making the Commission’s position clear: ‘Decarbonisation must be a reality, there is no other option’. In the face of rising global temperatures, which are more evident during the summer season, climate change ‘is not coming, it is already here’ and ‘it is a problem that we need to act on, it is not going to go away by itself’, he said.

The speaker described the various initiatives that the Commissioner’s office has on the table, such as four omnibus laws to simplify legislation, the EU Climate Law and sectoral action plans such as the one being developed for the metal sector or a ‘Marshall plan’, in the words of the speaker, for the energy sector.

‘The idea is to have a holistic approach to climate policies without deviating from the 2050 targets,’ added García Jones, who thanked the attendees for being able to share the cabinet’s views with the private sector.

The session ended with an extensive round of questions in which issues such as the use of raw materials such as ethanol as a response to the climate crisis, the criteria for declaring strategic climate projects or the development of renewable fuels for the aviation sector, among other topics, were raised.