The new third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, took over this Monday formally from her predecessor and until now ‘boss’, Teresa Riberain a portfolio transfer ceremony in which science and the work of scientists and technicians has been very present as a cornerstone of the climate fight about which this handover promises continuity and in the face of denialist attitudes and those who sow doubts on the work of experts, as has happened in the DANA from Valencia.
“I believe in working from science, in training at a technical level and in public service for citizens,” said Aagesen, in a speech that began with a memory of those affected by DANA and the Tragsa worker who He died in a school in Massanassa and has continued with the recognition of the “technicians and people of this house who work to offer truthful, close information.” “I am essential to improve knowledge,” he told Ministry staff, including those from the Spanish Meteorological Agency and the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, questioned by the PP by the DANA of Valencia.
Aagensen has picked up the baton from Ribera in a ceremony in which, in addition to his family and his teams and Ministry workers, representatives of the renewable and industrial sector and the presidents of Iberdrola and Naturgy, Ignacio Sánchez Galán and Francisco Reynés, were present. Cepsa has sent a more discreet representation, while Repsol has been absent.
Faithful to the continuity that Aagesen represents with respect to Ribera – with whom she has been working for more than 20 years on climate policies and her Secretary of State for Energy for four years -, the new vice president has insisted as lines of her Ministry on the need of, “hand in hand with Science” and “stop fueling the climate emergency”, by “reducing greenhouse gas emissions”, achieving “climate neutrality” and “committing to the energy transition that so well is working on our country”, in parallel to economic growth, which the figures show is a consequence and not despite decarbonization.
“We have all the pieces, sun, wind, companies, talent, a convinced society, policies, unions and NGOs,” Aagesen listed, for whom “it is no coincidence that the first European economy to reach 50% in generation renewable energy is the same as doubling the average economic growth of the OECD or practically multiplying the growth of the EU by four. “That’s Spain,” he said.
Ribera has transferred the portfolio to Aagesen after she promised her position before the king, in Zarzuela. Previously, the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, confirmed his appointment in an institutional appearance in which he highlighted the “rigor, professionalism and expert knowledge” of his new third vice president who, he assured, will give “continuity” to the climate fight in Spain
(more information will be available soon)