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Society, Energy and Future

Moving Towards a Sustainable Future: Challenges and Opportunities in the Energy Transition

At the crossroads between the progress of modern society and concern for the environment, a monumental challenge has arisen: the transition to a sustainable energy future. This global imperative requires us to rethink our relationship with energy, redefine our practices and rethink our role in preserving the planet.

The massive adoption of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, is essential to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and mitigate the effects of human action. This interaction with our planet threatens our own planetary limits. This concept, developed in 2009 by a group of scientists led by Johan Rockström, director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Will Steffen, senior researcher at the Australian National University, describes the nine fundamental biophysical processes that regulate the functioning of the Earth system and that, once crossed, could threaten the stability of the planetary environment. These boundaries represent thresholds beyond which there is a significant risk of abrupt and irreversible change in the Earth system, which could result in environmental conditions less favourable for human development and life in general. And climate change is only one of them. In addition to climate change and biodiversity loss, there are indications that we are close to exceeding other limits, such as ocean acidification, disruption of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycle, and loss of the stratospheric ozone layer.

All the changes needed to make progress as a civilisation, and to move towards climate neutral energy consumption, use and procurement, require deep changes that focus on the real sustainability of humanity on our blue planet.

However, this path to sustainability is not without obstacles. One of the main challenges we face is the resistance and conflicts associated with the deployment of renewable infrastructure. Local opposition, aesthetic concerns and regulatory challenges can obstruct progress, but they cannot stop it. It is crucial to address these concerns with empathy, transparency and engagement, involving communities in the decision-making process and providing clear information on the long-term benefits of clean energy.

Examples of the so-called ‘NIMBY’ (not in my backyard), born in the 1980s in the United States in connection with nuclear waste, now affect the implementation of renewables. This opposition from local communities affected by projects, mainly wind projects, leads to confrontation over location, but there is no real opposition to the technology itself. It occurs for environmental reasons, aesthetic impact or customary use of a particular area, which affects that community. The measures to manage these conflicts resulting from relations with economic impact, participation in the granting of permits, are fundamentally to work on communication with these communities prior to the implementation of the project, to involve their interests with meetings and discussions with the promoters, and to monitor local and online information well, avoiding the famous and omnipresent fakenews.

In addition, the energy transition requires a deep analysis of our existing systems and structures. Governments must commit to bold policies that encourage investment in renewable energy, promote energy efficiency and set ambitious emission reduction targets. It is imperative that government institutions work in collaboration with the private sector, civil society and the scientific community to develop comprehensive and coordinated strategies to drive change on a global scale.

But beyond institutional changes, the transition to a sustainable future also requires a cultural and mental transformation. As a society, we must adopt a holistic approach to energy, recognising its interconnection with all aspects of our lives. From our individual choices to our collective policies, every action counts in building a cleaner and more equitable world. As we are in the middle of this transition, we need to realise the importance of a paradigm change, fast, and seeking ever-increasing substitution and electrification of our energy system, as these are the most effective ways to lower our greenhouse gas production rate. But apart from a technological and systemic change, we have to implement these changes in the collective consciousness.

Everything is energy, our journeys, the consumption of our homes and technological elements. Today 56% of the world’s population lives in cities and is increasingly concentrated in growing population groups and, according to UN data, by 2050 more than 66% of the 10 billion people who will populate the planet will live in cities. The new realities in terms of urban organisation show that organising our cities towards reduced private car use, more green spaces and better public transport connections. This was highlighted by the pandemic of 2020, in which we were exposed to the reality of major problems in accessing basic services.

Models already exist, such as the changes implemented in Portland, USA. The 20% drop in road traffic following the implementation of a 20-minute perimeter access to the main daily interconnections for citizens led to an increase of 1.2 billion dollars in local commerce, and a decrease in fossil fuel energy consumption (with associated emissions reductions).

And what future are we looking for on this path?

The societies of the future will be so different from us, as the societies of the past seem to us. Changes in culture and politics, in supranational relations and in our daily lives. But we are sure that the future is net zero, and climate neutrality is one of the pillars of the coming humanity, simply for the survival and natural maintenance of our race. Today we are living the first steps of the energy transition, but the future may bring new solutions and technologies that will help us to replace limited and complex materials with new materials that are integrated into a circular economy and that will allow us to move towards energy models that are as clean as possible.  Until then, we have to accept our current reality and project the changes, with their long-term strategies, but applying solutions step by step, changing fossil fuels for other ways of obtaining energy, mainly electricity, and moving towards a coexistence with the social reality of change and adaptation.

It is time to take action with determination and vision, because the future of our planet depends on it.