The 18th Forum of the Representatives of Andorran Family Business Association (EFA) was held yesterday in Soldeu in Andorra (Pyrenees). This year’s forum topic was Climate Change Problems. It is one of the most important topics on the United Nations agenda and the UNO program until 2030.
The president of the association, Francesc Mora, declared that “climate change is part of the political debate” and added that “this topic is justified because it concerns everyone”.
Silvia Calvo, Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Sustainable Development of Andorra, emphasized in her presentation that “businessmen around the world are becoming more aware of this problem and are actively participating in environmental conservation programs.” She stated that based on scientific evidence, in mountainous areas, the increase in air temperature is more intense than in previous years. She expressed concern that by 2050 the presence of snow in the Principality could be greatly reduced, which would damage one of its principal economic pillars – tourism.
The Minister recalled that “Andorra has set a number of goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are fully consistent with the Paris Agreement.”
The Climate Change Challenges session on Data and Evolution was hosted by Elvira Carles, Director of the Business and Climate Foundation. She spoke about the evolution of greenhouse gas emissions since 1750, from the beginning of the industrial revolution that took place in England, where the concentration of harmful emissions was maximum. She expressed the view that the increase in forest areas could solve this problem, emphasizing the importance of their conservation.
Regarding global warming, she said that the average temperature has recently increased by 1.5 degrees, which has already led to the disappearance of a large percentage of the world’s biodiversity. “If this trend continues, the temperature of the planet at the end of this century may exceed the 5 degrees rise, which will lead to natural disasters and may even cause the extinction of humanity,” she said. According to her, 6 countries account for 60% of the polluting emissions of the planet: these are China, the USA, India, Russia, Japan and Germany. At the same time, 52% of the total forest area of the planet is concentrated in Russia.
Among the invited speakers was the president of the Equatorial Coca-Cola Bottling company Alfonso Libano. He introduced the Coca-Cola brand sustainability program and assured that the company pays much more attention to environmental aspects: the product contains less sugar, reduced packaging size, and reduced use of water in production.
Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora summed up the forum. He stated that “the fight against climate change is a problem of our time”. He also said that the problem of climate change can only be solved by everyone and called on society to actively participate in relevant government programs.
