The Council of Tenerife launches the Climate Change and Energy Observatory of Tenerife, a center for the exchange of information and monitoring in the form of an internet page from which data on emissions, energy consumption and possible aid to citizens are offered. This has its space for a participation considered fundamental.
The presentation of the resource coincides with the celebration on Monday 24 of the International Day to Fight Climate Change. It also responds to one of the provisions of the Climate Emergency Declaration approved by the island corporation in September 2019. It is valued by the Minister for Sustainable Development and the Fight Against Climate Change, Javier Rodríguez Medina, who presents the website together with Víctor García, head of service for the Cabildo area.
This “reservoir”, as Rodríguez Medina describes it, will serve as an updated information center on the Internet on the internet. In this sense, it will provide data to Tenerife society, both from the citizen and civil society spheres as well as from the administrative, economic, scientific and academic spheres. To do this, it will collect knowledge, publications and actions on the facets and variables involved in climate change on an island scale.
The councilor recalls other key actions undertaken by the current island government team, such as the launch in November 2020 of the Office of Renewable Energies to follow the EU guidelines regarding emissions and the Covenant of Mayors -which analyzes the data from the 31 municipalities–, the new management of waste or the elimination of wastewater discharges into the sea.
This tool draws on measurements of gases emitted into the atmosphere. The Cabildo has its own infrastructure in the El Tanque Ecomuseum. But Tenerife adds others of the first national and world level such as the Izaña Observatory, in the Teideamong the main ones in terms of data collection on the phenomenon of climate change.
Evolution and variables
From this new instrument, “a follow-up of the evolution of climate change and its variables on the Island will be carried out and published, as well as its effects on the different environmental, economic and social sectors,” says Víctor García.
On the other hand, the website will also include an Energy Poverty Observatory in Tenerife in order to offer an information center on aid, how to reduce the price of the energy bill the light and carry out monitoring at the island level. “A few questions that will provide valuable help for decision-making in this matter,” says the counselor.
García explains that “I wish it didn’t have to exist” and even less “in a land like this rich in renewable energies such as photovoltaic, wind or marine”
The Observatory will continuously present the results of a periodic monitoring of the variables and the effects of the phenomenon on the Island, “although it is still in the initial phase, but it will attend to a process of continuous improvement through which its letter of services”, adds García.
This platform will also carry out inventories of island emissions on the path to carbon neutrality in 2040, will present “transparently” the expenses and investments made by the corporation in the matter and will be informed of the progress of the Covenant of Mayors of the European Union against this phenomenon. Rodríguez and García value the great possibilities of self-consumption, not only individually but collectively, especially for the most vulnerable. There is already some experience underway, such as in Adeje where its House of Culture collects energy for the buildings that are 500 meters around and the expansion to 1,000 meters is being considered. A phrase from the counselor in this regard: “Our roofs are still bare” waiting for renewable energy.
García, whose department collaborates in the Insular Plan for Sustainable Mobility, currently in process, glosses the positive characteristics of the tool. In the first place, the promotion of citizen, scientific and academic participation «a key factor». Also that it will be continuously enriched with these additions. Finally, the function of carrying out the essential monitoring of climate change factors.
The Climate Change and Energy Observatory of Tenerife starts in the form of a web page under the address https://occet.es. There they await information and suggestions to “keep up the fight.”
Commemoration of the day against global warming
The Sustainable Santa Cruz Foundation commemorates the International Climate Change Day next Monday, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., with a technical conference at the Official College of Industrial Engineers (COIITF) in the capital of Tenerife. It will be with free admission and open to citizen participation. This initiative is organized by the Capital City Council and the Foundation in collaboration with the College. It is planned to address the Climate Action Plan and Sustainable Energy of the Consistory (municipal PACES). For its part, the University of La Laguna (ULL) will also join the celebration on Monday. One more year, the academic institution will join this initiative by holding a forum, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Sala de Grados of the Guajara Lecture Hall, in which half a dozen experts will make presentations on aspects related to this global problem. . This event, which has been promoted by the Office of the Vice President for Infrastructure and Sustainability and also has the support of the Canary Islands Government, as well as the Cabildo is aimed mainly at members of the university community, but anyone interested in the subject may also attend. This forum of experts, most of whom are professors at the institution, will give a global vision of climate change and will conclude with a round table. The speakers will address how the problem affects the Canary Islands. | jdm
