Edgar Lorenzo Sáez, researcher of the Information and Communication Technologies against Climate Change group of ITACA-UPV, has been awarded the «VI Prize for the best Doctoral Thesis on Climate Change in the Spanish Mediterranean Arc» by the Chair of Climate Change of the Universitat Politècnica de València.

The reason for this award was the excellence and impact of the work carried out in his doctoral thesis «Development of a comprehensive greenhouse gas management tool for decision making against climate change at regional and local level in the Valencian Community«, where he developed a territorial and sectoral information system (SITE) to monitor greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Climate governance at local and regional level

«This system aims to serve as a tool for climate governance at local and regional level in the Valencian Community,» says the ITACA-UPV researcher.

To this end, different methodological developments are defined, both general and specific to key sectors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) (building, transport, forestry, etc.), a computer development for the SITE part and seven implementations as representative case studies, at different scales and applied in different sectors.

Implementation in Saxony-Anhalt

Among the most notable results of this work is the application of the different methodologies developed to the more than 160 GHG emissions indicators defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the 542 municipalities of the Valencian Community. In addition, it was also implemented in the German lander of Saxony-Anhalt for the sectoral and territorial calculation of GHG emissions and to simulate a 2030 scenario,» said Dr. Lorenzo Sáez.

Therefore, Edgar Lorenzo Sáez’s research contributes to improving the control of greenhouse gas emissions, offering a comprehensive and effective tool for decision-making against climate change at regional and local level in the Valencian Community.

The work has been directed by Lenin Lemus, José Vicente Oliver Villanueva and Victoria Lerma Arce, all members of the ITACA-UPV’s Information and Communication Technologies against Climate Change group.