The Biofactoría Sur is able to generate more energy in a sustainable way than it needs, value 100% of the waste it generates and reuse all the water it purifies

“Granada is the first metropolitan territorial area of ​​Spain with more than 500,000 inhabitants with an integral energy self-sufficient water cycle”, as confirmed by Rubén Ruiz, Operations Director of Suez Spain in the presentation “Energy self-sufficiency: Granada case” with which the day focused on Andalusia was opened, organized by Hidralia at the Suez stand of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change (COP25).

Ruiz stressed the need to change the paradigm in water management, moving from a linear to a circular economy, where 100% of the waste generated is recovered, the reuse of all purified water and energy self-sufficiency. These challenges are those that the Southern Biofactory of Granada has achieved in its facilities that today generates more energy in a sustainable way than it needs to carry out its activity.

An efficiency model that Suez defines as one of the global challenges in water management in Spain and that is one of the company's environmental commitments, firmly linked to the circular economy.

Achieving a circular economy in the different human activities was precisely one of the main topics of the discussion table “Effect of climate change in the context of Andalusia”, in which María López Sanchís, general director of Climate Change of the Board were present from Andalusia; Belén Crespo Sánchez-Eznarriaga, advisor to the High Commissioner Agenda 2030 Government Spain; Joaquín Páez Landa, president of the Hydrographic Confederation of Guadalquivir; Montserrat Zamorano, professor and director of the Higher School of Road Engineering at the University of Granada, and Gustavo Calero, director of Sustainable Development and Innovation of Hidralia.

The need to establish partnerships between public and private organizations, organizations and civil and scientific society was another of the issues discussed in the debate as one of the main strategies for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. This was highlighted by López Sanchís, who reiterated the need to bet on the UN Sustainable Development Goal number 17: “Alliances”, since it is necessary to work together to cope with the effects of the climate.

In this regard, he highlighted the creation of the Andalusian Network against Climate Change (REDAC) that brings together the business, institutional and social world, with the aim of raising awareness and raising awareness of the problems arising from climate change, promoting network action and awareness in matters of Mitigation and Adaptation. A platform (https://redac.es/) that, with only one year of life, has achieved more than 500 accessions and that aims to become the Andalusian reference point in the fight against this climatic situation.

Following the same line, Belén Crespo opted for the transversality of the 2030 Agenda and the importance of “acting as a connector” between administrations and public and private entities. For his part, Páez Landa, who also advocated the necessary collaboration between administrations, stressed that it is now time to act, since extreme weather events are everyday and "as such, we must keep it in mind for resource planning."

One of the most adverse consequences of climate change in Andalusia focuses on the water sector. A hydrically vulnerable area, subject to increasingly longer periods of water scarcity and extreme weather conditions that cause the urgent need to establish measures to mitigate the effects of the climate on the population and the economy of the region, based largely in agriculture and tourism. A population, as noted by Matilde Mancha, general director of Hidralia, which has multiplied exponentially in the last 20 years and that in one way or another depends on the climate: “We are reaching an unsustainable situation”, therefore, he stressed that since Suez "we want to be the technological partner that makes cities more resilient through innovation and digital transformation, anticipating the effects of the climate crisis and responding to citizens."

The only possible solution is to face together - promoting alliances between all the actors involved - this problem with efficient and sustainable management of the resource, applying the most innovative technology, renewing existing infrastructure and addressing a digital transformation of management processes, Those present at the second discussion table pointed out. Jaime Palop Piqueras, CEO of Emasesa; Pedro Rodríguez, president of the Andalusian Supply and Sanitation Association; Pedro Parias, president of the Association of Irrigators of Andalusia; Bartolomé Andreo, professor and director of the Hydrogeology Center of the University of Malaga, and Matilde Mancha, addressed from their respective points of view (administration, company, users and science) how to face these climatic challenges that directly affect the population.

The investment for the renewal of hydraulic infrastructures was a common point of all those present in the message as an urgent need to achieve sustainability and the maintenance of a quality service for citizens. “It is time to address this problem, it is the responsibility of the actors that manage the water to make known this the need for renovation and investment of infrastructure that is becoming obsolete.” Pedro Rodríguez, for his part, advocated awareness and citizen information, to get them involved in solving this problem.