Industry plays a key role in Spain’s decarbonisation process, accounting for 25% of the country’s direct emissions. Experts, industrial associations and companies today debated this role during the conference ‘Challenges and Opportunities of decarbonisation in industry’ organised by Naturgy at the CaixaForum in Madrid. The Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, opened the session together with CEOE President, Antonio Garamendi, and the Naturgy Chairman and CEO, Francisco Reynés.
Decarbonisation of industry is key to achieving national emission reduction targets. However, the speakers agreed that it is necessary to tackle this process by opting for formulas that do not reduce the industrial sector’s competitiveness in its production processes and, at the same time, allow it to take advantage of the new opportunities opened up by the new energy scenario. It is therefore essential not to give up on any technology, analysing all economically viable alternatives with a sufficient degree of maturity.
In that respect, renewable gases are an alternative to quickly and efficiently reduce the volume of emissions. The best example is biomethane, a gas obtained from waste treatment that meets similar conditions to natural gas and can be distributed through the gas network without major investment, making it ideal for business and domestic consumption.
Naturgy Chairman and CEO Francisco Reynés defended the need for technological neutrality in the search for solutions that allow progress in the energy transition, achieving a balance between sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness. “The strengthening of the national and European industrial fabric requires a regulation in which decarbonisation and industrial competitiveness are complementary objectives, and renewable gases can play an essential role in achieving this balance,” he stressed.
The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, announced at the inauguration of the event the call for the compensation mechanism for the costs of indirect greenhouse gas emissions, with a budget of €300 million. Hereu highlighted the role of industry in bringing society together and welcomed the recent agreement signed between Naturgy and the paper group Lecta for the supply of biomethane. “It’s only by joining forces and working together that we will be able to move forward with the transition in which we are immersed. A process that requires a great deal of innovation and business investment,” he said.
For his part, CEOE president, Antonio Garamendi, stressed that industrial and business competitiveness and energy transition should not be conflicting objectives but complementary tools. “The competitiveness of our companies and decarbonisation must go hand in hand. In fact, they can only go hand in hand”, he stressed, pointing out that Spain must take advantage of the energy transition and decarbonisation of the economy “to strengthen our industry and our productive fabric”. He recalled that this transition requires “gigantic investments” of around €300 billion by 2030, according to the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), and that “80% of this will correspond to companies, to the private sector”.
The business people attending the conference expressed their commitment to the decarbonisation process but called for a clear regulatory framework that encourages the consumption and production of renewable gas. Only in that way will Spain be able to take advantage of the enormous potential it has in biomethane production, equivalent to Spain’s current final demand for natural gas. “Structural adjustments, a regulatory and fiscal framework and an industrial policy are needed to encourage companies to invest in these low-emission processes”, said María Higueras, Naturgy’s Industrial Market Director, during the closing ceremony.
The conference was attended by large industrial corporations such as Gestamp, Lecta, Porcelanosa and Sidenor, as well as representatives of industrial and business associations such as Acogen, Cepyme, GasINDUSTRIAL and the Alliance for the Competitiveness of Spanish Industry. The industrialists present at the session called for a “menu of technological solutions without ideological preconceptions” so that each company can decide, depending on its individual situation, how it is going to tackle this transformation process.
The first of these roundtables analysed the current situation of the industry and the way in which small, medium and large companies are facing the process of decarbonisation in a global market that forces them to compete with groups from other countries. Participants included Verónica Rivière, President of GasINDUSTRIAL; Rubén Hernando, President of Acogen; José Miguel Guerrero, Vice-President of Cepyme; and Carlos Reinoso, spokesperson for the Alliance for the Competitiveness of Spanish Industry.
The second roundtable focused on analysing specific cases and involved representatives of large industrial corporations such as Silvestre Segarra, Vice-President and CEO of Porcelanosa; José Antonio Jainaga, President of Sidenor; Gilles Van Nieuwenhuyzen, CEO of Lecta, and Francisco J. Riberas, Executive Chairman of Gestamp.
The emeritus professor of the University of Barcelona, Mariano Marzo, emphasised that “energy policy is much more than decarbonising, and today it is a priority for ensuring security of supply, with investment in those primary energies that we will continue to need in the coming years”.
The gas system, a necessary part of decarbonisation
The authors of the study ‘A Net-Zero gas system: A key element in a decarbonised energy model to 2050’ prepared by Deloitte and the Naturgy Foundation. This report concludes that “achieving emission neutrality requires consideration of all available net zero emission solutions so that the goal can be achieved in the most efficient way possible”.
“Renewable gases are an essential building block to achieve a net zero emission energy system that efficiently meets the needs of consumers while maintaining security of supply. Consequently, the gas system is presented as a necessary piece for fulfilling the goal of achieving a technically viable, resilient and efficient emission-neutral system by 2050”, adds the document, whose conclusions were advanced by Eduardo Sánchez, partner in charge of the Manufacturing Sector at Deloitte; Laureano Álvarez, partner in charge of strategy in the Energy Sector at Monitor Deloitte and Oliverio Álvarez, partner in charge of the Energy, Resources and Industrials Division at Deloitte.
Biomethane contributes greatly to job creation and competitiveness, the revitalisation of rural areas, the reduction of emissions and promotion of the circular economy through net zero emission carriers. The production of biomethane contributes to the circular economy, generates quality employment and is key to preventing rural depopulation.