The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, called on the European authorities to have an “open vision” to bet on the neutrality of energy transfer technology and not lose the battle with the United States to attract “a large amount of money” in investments.
At the inauguration ceremony of the first electrolyzer of the Petronor industrial center group (Muskiz, Vizcaya), Imaz recalled that “a global game” is currently being played in which Europe cannot be left behind and requested that “it is not the ideology that determines the fuels where’s a bet.”
Likewise, he described the mantra of relating decarbonization to renewable electrification as “a half-truth”, since in many sectors, such as aviation, maritime or heavy transport, etc., the objective cannot be achieved in this way.
For this reason, he emphasized that the promotion of renewable fuels is essential to facing the decarbonization of these sectors, which represent 50–60% of the world economy, and that “at this time, it will decide where the large companies will invest in quantity”.
In this sense, he considers that Europe is well placed because it has “talent, technology and companies ready to invest”, although he warns that the United States is taking steps to “lead this investment. ”
“In Europe we have the ban, the ban,” he said, adding that while in the Old Continent there is a discussion of banning combustion engines from 2035, in the United States they are making “a clear bet of predictability””from the point of view of legal stability and fiscal stability.
In this way, he assured that the opportunity to bet on the development of “a society that provides opportunities for people and that is useful” by promoting the industry should not be missed.
