Business, the banking sector and politicians talk about problems and solutions at the Endesa headquarters

COP25 was an opportunity to gather together key people responsible for reaching an agreement about global warming. To allow them to talk openly about their concerns, where they agree and where they disagree.

Representatives of Enel, EDP, Ikea, Banco Santander, the Minister of Ecological Transition, the Managing Director of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) (sponsors of the event) and many leading figures from the business world gathered and talked at the Endesa headquarters, at a site event of the COP25.

The conference was opened by Francesco Starace, CEO and GM of Enel, who told the panellists that they were gathered there to move forward. He said that for the first time, the fight against climate change has become a matter of importance for hundreds of agents, not just a few. We are in a new map where there is room for everyone. Small players are more important than ever, and it is profitability and economic opportunity that should mark the growth of renewable energies. Governments should focus on making this transition to renewable energy "fair", with the aim of eliminating fossil fuels, but "leaving no one behind."

The bank said that it wants technicians and experts to be the ones that tell financial and investment companies which technologies are mature, which criteria must be followed, how to invest well in this new energy world and ensure equal opportunities to all. Because uncertainty is another of the most frequently uttered words in these conversations.

Minister Teresa Ribera talked about flexibility. Of the necessary capacity for negotiation and how this uncertainty is managed, because we know that there will be no going back with decarbonisation. But there are unanswered questions. "We must connect with the younger generation," she said, "never again must we look like the generation that keeps the profits, that holds onto the privileges and which looks the other way rather than face what is coming to them”.

Chaos. There was also talk of avoiding chaos. Because as some problems are solved, say those who are driving this transformation, others are arising. In France, there are problems due to the immense amount of land occupied by renewable energies, leading to rejection because companies have to work on solutions now. And convince society.

And everyone sees what is happening to their neighbours. The one opposite. The one next door. Because, perhaps for the first time in history, while global and multidisciplinary solutions are proposed, global and multidisciplinary problems are arising. It is almost as though man, when he discovered fire, were forced to find solutions to forest fires and wood shortages.