Sílvia Martí, Corporate Vice-President at Moventia, attended the BNEW (Barcelona New Economy Week) this year, an annual event organised by the Barcelona Zona Franca Consortium (CZFB) and that took place between 2 and 5 October 2023 at DFactory.

More specifically, Sílvia formed part of the BNEW Mobility: ‘Decarbonisation Solutions for Mobility’ panel promoted by BBVA. A number of other experts from the sector were also involved in the discussion, including Jacobo Anaya, Energy and Sustainability Director at BBVA Spain; Jordi Vila, Head of Environmental Affairs at the Port of Barcelona; Isaac Centellas, Head of the Information Systems and Installations Division at Metro de Madrid; and Carlos González, Director of Emovili.

The Q&A session addressed the mobility challenges to be overcome for transitioning to a more sustainable model, with a focus on technology solutions that will also enable cost savings to be made. The overarching goal is to reach climate neutrality between now and 2050.

In this regard, Sílvia Martí firstly called for a strong commitment from government authorities and said she is convinced that public-private partnerships are essential for progress in this area. “At Moventia, we have invested 120 million euros over the last three years in decarbonising our fleet of buses and coaches, but we must be able to access such resources as the Next Generation funds to maintain this decarbonisation plan without jeopardising the viability of private companies”. In the field of private mobility (automotion), Sílvia also highlighted the need to make it easier for customers and potential buyers to transition over to electric models. “Countries like Portugal have far more effective and flexible tax breaks that encourage people to buy these new zero-emissions models. The situation we see in Spain is very different”, she said. Along the same lines, Carlos González also called for greater direct tax incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles and recharging infrastructure. “Existing subsidies are a bureaucratic nightmare with long and complicated processes to work through”, said the executive from Emovili.

In turn, representing the Port of Barcelona, Jordi Vila stressed that ports are essential to the decarbonisation process given that “they are the link in the supply chain where an intermodal change takes place”. He went on to add that the Port of Barcelona will be making an investment of more than 100 million euros to electrify its quay and pier infrastructures.

Finally, Isaac Centellas called for ongoing support for mobility that targets “the public interest”. Metro de Madrid, which has a strategy based on developing a safe, connected and sustainable means of transport, is calling on government authorities to lead a digitalisation process for public transport networks, especially with a view to integrating all the data to which they have access.