Authored by:
Sernauto (Asociación Española de Proveedores de Automoción)
Repsol chairman, Antonio Brufau, and SERNAUTO chairman, Francisco J. Riberas, discussed the current climate and future scenarios in terms of sustainable mobility.
This dialog was moderated by journalist Beatriz Pérez-Aranda, where the two industry representatives insisted on the importance of collaboration between public and private institutions to maintain the Spanish industry’s competitiveness, achieving strategic autonomy to promote the energy transition in an orderly and coherent manner, meeting society’s current needs.
The chairmen of Repsol and SERNAUTO, defended the pragmatism to achieve sustainable mobility that leaves no one behind, defending a fair and inclusive transition. In the words of Antonio Brufau: "we must not stand in the way of the industry's ability to develop. Prohibition is not the way forward towards a powerful industry, but instead, motivating and working together to achieve a fair and inclusive energy transition."
Francisco J. Riberas called for action from the Administration, stating that:
"We have the big challenge of being able to maintain the same advantages of the old model and remain competitive to be able to take advantage of future opportunities. It is more important than ever that public administrations promote an attractive regulatory framework."
Brufau advocated technological neutrality, stating that penalizing one technology over another does not benefit society, because we would be overlooking an attractive possibility. For example, in the case of synthetic fuels or biofuels, as “transportation has to be more sustainable, efficient and this will be possible by using alternative renewable fuels.”
Finally, he reiterated that "fifteen years ago we set up the first electric vehicle recharging company in anticipation of what was to come. How do we see the future? We see it as being hybrid”, reiterating that “electrification is not the only answer to mobility."
One of the main conclusions of the dialog between the two chairmen was the priority to achieve strategic autonomy in order to guarantee our country’s industrial capacity and that of the supply chain for our citizens.
