Abstract

Abstract

Within the framework of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, this study analyzes the role of the energy sector in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a resource-based approach, it investigates the elements facilitating SDG implementation in global energy companies, distinguishing between renewable energy and fossil fuel firms. Using empirical analysis with data from 522 companies in the sector, the methodologies of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) are combined to understand the factors driving SDG implementation in this industry. The results reveal significant differences between renewable energy and fossil fuel companies regarding the effectiveness of facilitative elements, highlighting the complexity of implementing SDGs in the energy sector. This study contributes to understanding how energy companies can leverage their resources and capabilities to align with the 2030 Agenda, providing guidance for change agents in the energy transition.

Abstract

Today there is a broad consensus that mitigating the effects of the energy and climate crisis requires the substitution of fossil resources for renewable energies in the coming decades. The Paris Agreements of 2015 (COP 21) set a limit on the increase in the average temperature of the surface of the planet Earth of 1.5 ºC, which means leaving unburned about half of the reserves of fossil fuels.

Since the nature of renewable energy sources is very different from that of fossil fuels, this transition will lead to changes in the way energy is used in the transition towards sustainable social development: we are facing a real change of civilization. One of the most significant effects is the need to recapture energy from solar radiation (photovoltaic and termosolar) and its derivatives (water flows, winds, biomass). Fossil fuels are the result of capture by photosynthesis and other chemical reactions that took place hundreds of millions of years ago for hundreds of millions of years. It is a finite resource that we are now burning at a rate of 1 million times faster than when they were formed.

Estimates made by some authors allow us to affirm that the surface (and territory) requirements necessary to capture and manage renewable energies will be about 80 times those of the fossil and nuclear energy system. This aspect has not yet been internalized neither by the political representatives, nor by the economic managers, nor by the general population. This communication analyses the projection of these territorial requirements on a Catalan scale when, after reducing current energy expenditure by 21% with savings programs and good practices, it will be necessary to occupy an extension of around 124,000 hectares for photovoltaic and wind catchments of which 60,000 may be on anthropized soils and the remaining 64,000 on sensitive soils (agricultural, forests and woodlands). The lack of information and an executive plan together with the high dense and unbalanced population pose additional difficulties to Catalonia's energy transition.

In order to provide criteria for catchment implementations and to establish bridges of dialogue, since 2021 the CMES association has promoted the Energy Transition and Territory project (Transició Energètica I Territori, TEiT project) in collaboration with entities and people from different counties of Catalonia. This communication shall put numbers to these realities and ends with the exposition of the most relevant aspects that have emerged from these meetings.

Abstract

Abstract

In terms of energy, the Earth is an open system: it constantly receives energy from solar radiation and emits the same amount of energy in the form of more degraded radiation; the displacement of the equilibrium point between these two flows due to the growth of greenhouse gases, increases the average temperature of the Earth and causes climate change. On the other hand, in relation to matter, the Earth is a closed system, apart from the sporadic fall of some meteor. Nature has the ability to regenerate the organic materials of living beings but not with many other materials.

Today, the volume of materials involved in human activities is 12.5 tons per person per year (1.5 to 4 times more in rich countries): 25% of the total comes from biomass (including food), 15% are fossil fuels, 10% are metal ores, 42% are other minerals (mainly for construction) and 8% are recycled. On the other hand, obtaining and transporting materials worldwide requires more than 40% of the energy of the human system, a value that is growing with the use of increasingly rare, scarce and dispersed materials. The overexploitation of resources coupled with the increasing use of non-renewable energy resources (fossil fuels and uranium), with the consequent energy and climate crisis and the deterioration of the environment, leads both to a change in the energy model and to rethinking the practices today dominant of continuous economic growth and the linear economy based on extract-use-throw.

The purpose of this communication is, after presenting the figures on the global metabolism of materials, to reflect on some of the new attitudes and actions that will need to be adopted within the framework of sustainable development. By way of example, the following are cited: 1) Moderate, reduce, eliminate the use of materials where possible; 2) Extend the life of goods and material infrastructures; 3) Reuse, recover, recycle materials; 4) Return as much as possible biologically based materials, more recyclable; 5) Avoid, as far as possible, technologies based on rare or scarce materials; 6) Avoid the dispersion of materials in the environment (atmosphere, water, soil); 7) Encourage the use of local materials in order to minimize transport and its energy impact; 8) Take care of the quality and good health of basic resources: air, water and fertile soil.

Abstract

Justificació: Amb el RD 244/2019 de 5 d’abril es va obrir la porta a poder compartir energia autogenerada entre punts de generació i de consum que complissin determinades condicions, i popularment es va començar a parlar de Comunitats Energètiques, tot i que aquesta figura no existís a l’ordenament jurídic espanyol. Des d’aquella data i fins ara s’han desenvolupat moltes experiències reals amb diferents tipus de lideratge i de governança, mentre s’està a l’espera de la transposició de les dos Directives que les regulen. Diverses entitats, generalment ajuntaments quan la iniciativa és pública i cooperatives de consum quan la iniciativa és privada, han espremut el RDL 244/2019 per fer aproximacions al que seran les futures Comunitats d’Energies Renovables o Comunitats Ciutadanes d’Energia.

Interès: Les Comunitats Energètiques o les figures que les substitueixin, que apareixen a dos Directives Europees que havien de ser transposades abans del 31 de desembre de 2020, son un element molt important de la transició energètica, però també del canvi social que requereixen a nivell d’implicació ciutadana. La Transició Energètica necessita els volums que han de proporcionar grans parcs solars i eòlics, també de petits per adaptar-se a les  peculiaritats de l’orografia de Catalunya, i també necessita teulades que facilitin nivells d’inversió assolibles per la ciutadania per tal que sigui protagonista o, com demana la Comissió Europea, que situïn la ciutadania al centre de la Transició Energètica.

Objectius: Recopilar les lliçons apreses des d’abril del 2019, tant a nivell tècnic i legal com sociològic, i projectar-les a les figures de la Comunitat d’Energies Renovables, i a la Comunitat Ciutadana d’Energia, o a la integració de totes dues, segons es reflectia a l’esborrany de RD que el MITECO va posar a informació pública  al mes d’abril de 2023 i del que no hi ha hagut més notícies. Un cop superades les dificultats del dos primers anys, on la lentitud de les distribuïdores elèctriques i el seu desinterès van provocar una situació de bloqueig que només es va solucionar amb denúncies a la CNMC. Superats aquests entrebancs, la nova frontera és la motivació de la ciutadania i de l’empresariat per participar en aquestes noves entitats.

Resultats i conclusions: Aprofitant l’experiència acumulada els darrers anys, es vol projectar cap al futur tenint en compte la redacció de les diverses figures jurídiques contingudes a la Directiva de Normes Comuns del Mercat Elèctric Intern (2019/944) i la Directiva d’Energies Renovables (2018/2001) i entendre els canvis socials necessaris per garantir l’empoderament de la ciutadania a l’hora de liderar un nou paradigma energètic, basat en canvis a nivell social i digital. No és suficient oferir la possibilitat de participar, sinó que cal buscar el lideratge per tal que el canvi sigui sostingut en el temps.