April 25, 2025

67% Emissions Reduction by 2035: 

The major climate challenge Catalonia must face

The Parliament of Catalonia has just received a clear and urgent message from the Committee of Experts on Climate Change: reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 67% before 2035. This is not a symbolic recommendation; it’s a serious warning, backed by science and necessity. If we want to avoid the worst-case scenarios of climate change, the time to act is now.

This roadmap, which sets an annual emissions reduction of 8% starting immediately, focuses particularly on three key sectors: transport, industry, and energy. Transport must reduce its emissions by 72%, industry by 65%, and the energy sector by up to 91%. But beyond the figures, what is proposed is a profound transformation in how we move, produce, and consume.

And it’s not just about electrifying vehicles or covering roofs with solar panels. According to the president of the committee, Montserrat Termes, the structural change also involves a transformation in social behavior and consumption. In other words, technological solutions are not enough; we are asked for a new way of understanding progress.

At Wegsco, this is not new to us: we experience it daily alongside companies that want to leave behind the linear model and embrace a circular and regenerative one. In fact, many of our solutions – such as Hamwells Blue, which recovers heat from wastewater to save energy, or Aquaer, which produces drinking water directly from the air – arise precisely to respond to this urgent need for efficiency and autonomy without compromising comfort.

This context also demands that companies not only adapt their operations but also their vision. At a time when European regulations are becoming stricter – with initiatives such as the CSRD Directive or the new green taxonomy framework – anticipating these changes can make the difference between leading the change or being left out of the market. We analyze this in depth in our article on environmental regulations in Europe.

But it’s also important to ask: what does it really mean to be a sustainable company? In a scenario where everything is labeled «green,» it’s time to go beyond marketing and commit to traceability, real innovation, and coherence. It’s not enough to offset emissions; we need to rethink processes and eliminate inefficiencies from the source.

The Committee has made it clear that this effort does not fall solely on governments and institutions. Individual – and business – decisions are an essential part of the change. As Jordi Solé, a researcher at the CSIC and a member of the committee, said, something as everyday as deciding whether to travel to Rome for a low-cost weekend has a real climate impact. It’s about revaluing what is necessary, reducing consumption without sacrificing well-being, and fostering an economy that does not depend on extractivism.

That’s why, at Wegsco, we not only develop sustainable technology. We also work to support companies that want to take the most difficult – but also the most courageous and necessary – path: that of real transformation.

The Parliament will have to decide in the coming months whether to adopt the scientific proposals without altering them. But the truth is that many organizations are already acting, aware that we cannot wait for a law to start changing. The planet can no longer afford more lost time.