The Institute of Penedesencs Studies (IEP) and Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera Sancho is part of the new Climate Change Group of Vilanova i la Geltrú.

Year 2025

Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera Sancho, Vice President of the Institute of Penedès Studies (IEP). Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

On March 3, 2023, it took place in the Neapolis building in Vilanova i la Geltrú (space for the development of technology and ideas from professionals in the creative industries sector and research projects in the field of innovation and technologies) the official presentation ceremony, through Canal Blau Televisió del Garraf, of the new Climate Change Group of Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona. Catalonia. Spain)

It was born with the aim of providing knowledge and proposing solutions for climate change focused especially on the local level. It is made up of a dozen professionals from the scientific field, UPC university professors, technicians and specialized journalists, who claim that the planet is beginning to find itself in a borderline situation, but that neither citizens nor administrations are sufficiently aware of it. Focusing on the capital of Garraf, they say that mobility and heat waves are its two main problems.

The representatives of the IEP in the new Climate Group of Vilanova i la Geltrú are the veteran Meteorologist and responsible for numerous weather stations in the Penedès area, at the same time Head of Environment of the Cunit City Council (Barcelona. Catalonia. Spain), Josep Miró i Illa, and the renowned Prof. Dr. Josep Antoni Herrera and Sancho de Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona. Catalonia. Spain), who with more than 40 years of professional experience and his doctoral thesis on large and complex municipal and metropolitan landfills with internal combustion demonstrated in the Kárstic Natural Park of the Garraf the effects of groundwater pollution by leachate and the emission of biogas and other greenhouse gases, now applicable to the mega-dump of the Garraf massif.

Context:

United Nations: What is climate change?

Climate change refers to long-term changes in temperatures and climate patterns. These changes can be natural, for example, through variations in the solar cycle. But since the 19th century, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.

The burning of fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket surrounding the Earth, trapping the sun's heat and raising temperatures.

Some examples of greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change are carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using petrol to drive a car or coal to heat a building, for example. Clearing of land and forests can also release carbon dioxide. Municipal solid waste landfills are a major source of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main emitters.