DAY 4. Southern Catalonia Forum: Towards a Leading Region in the Response to the Climate Emergency and Energy Transition

(a previous invitation is required to participate in this session)

Many of the natural, economic and sociocultural assets of Southern Catalonia are compromised by the climate emergency and the necessary green energy transition that must take place. At the same time, and precisely for this reason, it may also become a region replete with opportunities for the future: a prominent European laboratory for the climate emergency and green energy transition.

To make this possible, the stakeholders belonging to what is often referred to as the quadruple helix (civil society, socioeconomic agents, universities, and political actors and administrations in the region) must work together, with a firm, long-term commitment to future generations.

The purpose of the Forum is to initiate the joint mobilisation of agents and experts from Southern Catalonia on the climate emergency and green energy transition. The meeting should constitute a starting point for a strategic regional platform for the future of the region. The objectives of the Forum are:

To share an overview of the global and regional situation.
To establish the fundamental issues to which Southern Catalonia must respond.
To become aware of existing initiatives directed at resolving these issues.
To envisage the regional missions that must be taken on together in the future.
To create an initial core group of key stakeholders for a regional platform.
To sign a commitment agreement to which other stakeholders can be added.

Representatives, experts and professionals from the university, civil society, socioeconomic agents, businesses, administrations and politicians of the region are invited to participate. The group of participants is necessarily limited given the participatory format and restricted space. This will be expanded later within the framework of the Regional Strategic Platform through the creation of thematic interest groups (agri-food, energy and mobility, health and welfare, ecosystems and natural resources, sustainable economy, etc.).

The sponsors of the Forum are the URV, as the primary medium of knowledge in southern Catalonia, and the Provincial Council of Tarragona, as the supramunicipal agency that brings together all of the municipalities in the region. Both institutions are committed to acting as catalysts for the regional ecological, energy and climate transition prioritised in the Southern Catalonia 2040 initiative, within the framework of the Southern Catalonia Knowledge Region.

8:30 – 9:00	Registration
9:00 – 9:15	Introduction María José Figueras, rector of Rovira i Virgili University Noemí Llauradó, president of the Provincial Council of Tarragona
9:15 – 09:45	The State of the Global Situation and in Southern Catalonia. Presentation of the Report Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019), drafted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Marta G. Rivera-Ferré, director of the Agroecology and Food Systems Chair of the University of Vic (UVic)
09:45 – 10:30	Roundtable panel Moderator: Francesc Díaz, vice-rector of research and scientific planning of the URV Manola Brunet, professor in the URV’s Geography Department and chair of the Commission for Climatology (CCl) of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Òscar Saladié, Director of the URV-Dow Chair for Sustainable Development Assumpta Farran, member of the board of the Renewable Energies Foundation Francesc Barbero, mayor of Flix Marc Castellnou, head of the Forestry Action Support Group (GRAF) of the Government of Catalonia’s fire service Artur Serra, joint director of Fundació i2cat, head of digital society
10:30 – 11:30	Dialogue and fundamental questions: the Ribera d’Ebre situation, energy and mobility, the environment and natural resources, sustainable economy, agri-food, rural development, etc. • What are the pressing issues in the region that need to be addressed? • What are the fundamental issues that Southern Catalonia needs to respond to? • What strategic opportunities are there in the region?
11:30 – 12:00	Coffee break and networking
12:00 – 14:00	Piloting the Southern Catalonia’s Response to The Climate Emergency and Green Energy Transition Group work and sharing Experiences in Southern Catalonia • What experiences in the region are already responding to the fundamental issues posed above? Are there opportunities for expansion? What is required? • Are there actions that can be included in upcoming Territorial Competitiveness and Specialization Projects (PECT) in Southern Catalonia? Strategic Missions of Southern Catalonia The European Union is using missions in its future plans and programmes as the tools around which, at a regional level (and in networks of regions), a set of actors come together to work together on specific challenges. • What are the imminent missions that Southern Catalonia might formulate considering its assets, challenges and opportunities? Who wants to participate in them? Which existing actions can already be part of these missions?
14:00 – 14:30	Conclusions of the conference
14:30	Lunch (buffet)