The consortium of promoting entities today presented the Centre en Resiliència Climàtica (CRC), an initiative with international projection promoted by Eurecat, Centre Tecnològic de Catalunya, together with the Amposta City Council and the Rovira i Virgili University, in collaboration with different agents and organizations, in order to promote the fight against the climate emergency and a firm commitment to the ecological transition in Catalonia, Spain and the Mediterranean, based on research, technology and innovation.
The presentation of the Centre en Resiliència Climàtica, which will initially have its headquarters in Eurecat Amposta, was attended by the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Pere Aragonès; the Minister of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, Teresa Jordà; the president of Eurecat, Xavier Torra; the rector of the URV, Dra. María José Figueras; the Mayor of Amposta, Adam Tomàs, and the Director General of Corporate and Operations of Eurecat, Xavier López.
The development of activities and investments in laboratories at the Centre en Resiliència Climàtica will involve investments of more than 12 million euros in the next four-year period. The center will use innovative methodologies related to citizen science and will promote, in collaboration with other entities, the generation of new business initiatives that provide technological solutions to combat climate change. In addition, it will promote, together with the Rovira i Virgili University, training activities in the field of climate change, as a growing demand for professionals in these disciplines is expected.
The Centre en Resiliència Climàtica will be implemented on a public-private collaboration model, with the participation of all the agents of the innovation ecosystem, also including citizen participation; in coordination with the public administration, and in full alignment with national and international climate change adaptation policies.
The Centre en Resiliència Climàtica has as promoting partners the Generalitat de Catalunya, the City Council of Amposta, the Consorci de Polítiques Ambientals de les Terres de l'Ebre (COPATE), the Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions forestals (CREAF), the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, the Fundación Empresa y Clima, the Observatori de l'Ebre, SEO/BirdLife and the Rovira i Virgili University. The presentation was attended by the president of COPATE, Joan Alginet; the director of the Consell Assessor per al Desenvolupament Sostenible de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Arnau Queralt; the director of the Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals, Dr. Joan Pino; the director of the Fundación Empresa y Clima, Elvira Carles; the director of SEO/BirdLife, Asunción Ruiz; the director of Territory and Environment of the Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera, Miquel Rafa, and the head of the line of hydrology and climate change of the Observatori de l'Ebre, Dr. Pedro Quintana.
The President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, celebrated the birth of a research center in Terres de l'Ebre "with an international vocation" and with a "multidisciplinary and transversal vision", which fits perfectly with "the transformative ambition that administrations must have for the next decade and beyond. "
Dr. Carlos Ibáñez, director of the Eurecat Climate Change Area, will assume the scientific direction of the CRC. The center will work in coordination with research institutions, social and economic agents, the business fabric and public administrations, to add capacities in mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
"As of today, Catalonia has a large research and innovation center on climate resilience, with an interdisciplinary approach that will address both adaptation and mitigation in the face of the climate emergency", explained the president of Eurecat, Xavier Torra. The activity of the CRC will be fully aligned with the ecological transition policies and will operate as a network center, serving companies and institutions ", he stressed.
According to Carlos Ibáñez, the Centre de Resiliència Climàtica "was born in Terres de l'Ebre, one of the most threatened territories in the Mediterranean, where the impacts of climate change are already a reality, especially in the Ebro delta, with effects in ecosystems, agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and other economic sectors ".
"The Centre de Resiliència Climàtica will be a primary tool to promote the necessary changes to reverse the current situation of planetary alarm. We are facing one of the last opportunities we have to save the planet and it is necessary that all the institutions that are part of this center We contribute our knowledge and our experience in the same direction. As a University, we are committed to promoting applied research and innovation to face one of the greatest global challenges to preserve the planet and move towards the ecological transition ", said the rector of the URV.
"The Centre de Resiliència Climàtica is urgent and necessary and the fragility that the Delta suffers from climate change, guarantees that it is born in Terres de l'Ebre", stressed the mayor of Amposta.
During the present decade, Catalonia "has the great challenge of planning and accelerating the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures and applying them on a large scale", in a context where "society, administrations, companies, research and technology , they must work together to develop solutions that allow a fair and inclusive ecological transition, and research and technology are essential on this path ", pointed out the Corporate and Operations General Director of Eurecat.
Multi-technological, robust solutions with positive social impact and generating new business models.
The CRC will put at the center of its activity the development of multi-technology, robust and innovative solutions for adaptation and mitigation, based on solutions based on nature, water technologies, observation of the earth, soil and sediments, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, applied robotics, circular economy and energy efficiency, among other disciplines.
These solutions will also be made available to companies, with the aim that they can use them as differentiation tools and generators of new business models that contribute to climate resilience.
The purpose is to be able to mitigate the impacts of climate change and make adaptation possible from the point of view of drought and water scarcity and the rise in sea level and its acidification, as well as in relation to the intensity of fires , new diseases and infections, extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity and heat waves, among other effects.
In this sense, the CRC aims to project itself in other territories through the creation of Living Labs, in collaboration with the ecosystem of the different territories of Catalonia. The CRC intends to act as a proactive and dynamic element of the coastal, interior and mountain territories, not only deploying technology-based tools to make them more resilient to the effects of climate change, but also identifying possible opportunities on which to generate well-being and new economic activity, in a sustainable, responsible and inclusive way.
A key tool for adaptation to climate change
To this end, the CRC will be in constant dialogue with the agents of the territories, to face the challenges and opportunities in the face of the need to adapt to climate change, prioritizing and promoting strategic initiatives, applying and developing technology, with the idea of generating maximum access, utility and impact on your projects and proposals.
For this reason, the task of the CRC will be based on excellence to generate activities and projects led by experts, with a markedly technological vocation, applying the best practices and principles.
Strategic objectives
The CRC will develop methodological tools and innovative and effective technologies to accelerate the application of solutions to move towards sustainable development in territories, companies, people and administrations. It will also contribute to the implementation of shared strategies for adaptation and mitigation of climate change and economic transformation, as well as international agendas.
Other objectives that it pursues are to become a catalyst for opportunities in the face of climate change, and to identify, promote and execute leading research and innovation projects of great impact. It will also carry out research and innovation of excellence and will work to be a reference in the transfer of knowledge and technology to companies, administrations and society in general.
Adapting to the effects of climate change: a European priority
According to climate change experts and the United Nations, this decade is key to preventing the impacts of climate change from seriously and irretrievably affecting the economy, territories and people's health.
Europe has adopted strategies of extraordinary scope to enhance the resilience of its territories, both with mitigation measures and by developing capacities for urgent adaptation to future scenarios. In addition to the commitments made in the Paris agreement and the 2030 Agenda, the El Pacto Verde is added, and recently the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change, which sets the path for an ecological transition preparing to respond to the inevitable effects. Catalonia launched in 2012 the Estratègia Catalana d'Adaptació al Canvi Climàtic (ESCACC), with the aim of being more resilient, less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The ESCACC identifies the generation and transfer of knowledge as essential, on the one hand, and the increase in adaptive capacity, on the other. Currently, the Generalitat is preparing the new strategy for adaptation to climate change in Catalonia 2021-2030.
