The President of the Government praised this Thursday the collaboration agreement between the Champalimaud Foundation and the multinational Philips to reduce the environmental footprint by 50% in the next five years, derived from emissions from heavy sanitary equipment.
After signing the collaboration agreement, in which Deloitte also participated, which is in charge of measuring and translating into numbers the results of the decarbonization process over the next five years, António Costa closed the session with a speech in which warned of the need for the fight against climate change to be done transversallyinvolving industries, health institutions and the families themselves at the level of domestic consumption.
The executive leader began his speech with a humorous note in which he observed “the confident optimism” of the president of the Champalimaud Foundation and State Councilor, Leonor Beleza, regarding the weather or meteorological conditions, alluding to the fact that the session had been held in one of the foundation’s gardens after several days of rain in Lisbon.
This agreement is especially relevant, not only for the effects it produces, for the intelligent way in which it is conceived, but also for drawing attention to a barely visible dimension in the fight against climate change. To achieve the objectives, we have to follow a set of transversal measures, ”he warned.
According to the President of the Government, one of the lines to fight against climate change is to increase energy efficiency in terms of equipment, especially in the health sector.
We often underestimate the weight that equipment has on carbon emissions directly or indirectly. For this reason, this agreement, focused precisely on reducing carbon emissions by 50% with the operation of essential equipment for the health system, is really of the utmost importance”, he considered, before referring to the advantages also in terms of economy circular.
“It is important to reuse a set of critical materials, which are installed and which are essential for the operation of the devices. These materials are also contaminating themselves and, mainly, whose extraction and treatment process is identified by the United Nations as one of the largest sources of carbon emissions ”, he stressed.
In the opening speech of the session, former Minister Leonor Beleza highlighted the importance of reducing polluting emissions through the renewal of heavy health equipment, equipment characterized by intensive energy consumption.
Regarding the content of the collaboration agreement with the Dutch multinational, Leonor Beleza highlighted that there is a self-regulation mechanism between the different actors, “without any outside intervention”.
We do not expect tax incentives or state aid,” he declared in the presence of the Prime Minister.
The president of the Champalimaud Foundation also highlighted that, in this partnership with Philips, Deloitte will monitor whether or not the decarbonization target, particularly in terms of emissions from imaging equipment, is being met relative to the target. : “Reduction of the environmental footprint by 50% in the next five years”.
This agreement has financial consequences. If the objectives are not reached, there will be a reduction in payments,” added the former Social Democratic leader and current member of the Council of State.
Source: Observadora
