The IX International Academic Symposium on Energy Transition organized by the Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) has emphasized the impact (and the opportunity) of coronavirus for the transformation of the energy system. An impact based on the decentralisation of the system with a complete supply of renewable energies. The Symposium was inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor of Research of the University of Barcelona, Jordi García Fernández, accompanied by the President of the Barcelona Institute of Economics Foundation, Martí Parellada Sabata, and by the Director of the Chair of Energy Sustainability and researcher at IEB, María Teresa Costa Campi.

The meeting was attended by Claudia Kemfert, a professor at the German Institute for Economic Research – DIW Berlin, who highlighted “the need to make the European Green Deal a reality, combining climate neutrality and economic recovery”. In another presentation at the Symposium, Professor Natalia Fabra of the University Carlos III presented the main implications of competition policy for the development of energy transition. During her presentation, Natalia Fabra stated that “the green antitrust movement should be used to strengthen competition policy, not to weaken it.”

The meeting served to address the relevant aspects that will mark the agenda of the energy sector in the coming years, as well as to analyse the current and prospective situation of the renewable energy sector as an essential mechanism in the reactivation and transformation of the production model. Among the presentations to highlight is that of Florence School of Regulation Professor Simone Borghesi who noted the need to “strengthen support for green investment”, as well as “review energy prices that could help achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal while allowing for the necessary economic recovery”. Another is the speech by Tooraj Jamasb, a professor at the Copenhagen School of Energy Infrastructure, who talked about the potential role that investments in green bonds could play in global financial recovery efforts without compromising the low-carbon transition goal. According to this expert, green bonds reduce risk aversion in times of pandemic.