4 | INNOVATORS MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2024
FOREWORD
F O R E W O R D
Maria da Graça Carvalho
Minister for Environment and
Energy of Portugal
I
am delighted that the first-ever
World Future Forum chose the
Portuguese Capital as its home
and look forward to it becoming an
international event synonymous with
advancing solutions to climate change.
The mission of the Forum, like the
mission of Portuguese government, is to
make sure that everything we do has a
positive impact, not just in helping us to
meet our climate goals, but also in terms
of creating economic growth, attracting
investment and improving people’s lives.
Take three areas in my portfolio as
Portugal’s Minister of Environment and
Energy that are of critical importance
to our future: water; biodiversity;
and energy, climate and the
decarbonization of the economy. We
are making a positive impact in all of
them, ensuring what we do is good for
the climate and benefits the public.
We have, for example, created a new
Climate Agency, which will manage all
our climate funds, making investments
simpler, more efficient and, at the
same time, increase accountability.
These are priorities the Forum shares
and plans to impact through new
initiatives including its Technology
Collaboration Labs and Sustainable
Finance Goals (SFGs).
Collaboration is a tool we use to
accelerate change and it is integral
to everything we do. By reaching
an historic agreement with Spain,
within the scope of a convention that
manages water resources shared
between the two countries, we are
ensuring the better management of
two rivers that are very important for
Portugal: the Tejo and the Guadiana.
Restoration of our natural resources
is vital if we want to achieve our
ambitions on climate change. In
Portugal we are working to develop
our National Restoration Plan, with
the renaturalisation of more than
540 kilometres of our rivers already
underway; and several other ongoing
projects happening in the fields of
marine protection, coastal protection
and biodiversity.
We are also investing heavily in the
transport sector which, in Portugal,
is a big contributor to greenhouse
emissions. We are pledging billions
of euros, from national and European
Climate funding to sustainable public
transportation and have laid the
foundations of a large consortium –
The Aviation Sustainability Alliance,
to develop sustainable fuels for
this sector and help solve other
decarbonisation challenges.
The Portuguese Government’s
approach towards the green transition
and the energy transition will always be
to make these changes with the people
and for the people; values I am happy
to see are being promoted by our
friends at the World Future Forum.