2016_03_17_CIE_garrido

Emilio Garrido (Biology '91) began his degree program in the field of Environmental Biology when this term barely sounded to a few visionaries. Twenty-five years later his experience serves the future professionals in charge of watching over its care and management from the classrooms of Master's Degree in Biodiversity, Landscapes and Sustainable management .

What were the programs of study Biology courses like when you took them?
At that time -between 1986 and 1991- the licentiate degree was structured very differently than it is today. The first three years were common and contained general subjects for all students. From Biology as a major discipline , through Botany, Zoology, Genetics, Microbiology or Biochemistry . In the following two years you would choose a specialization. In my case it was Molecular, which included Biochemistry , Genetics, and all the existing chemistry at School, including Pharmacy. And we all continued taking core subjects, such as animal and plant physiology or ecology, a very wise decision from my point of view.

This training so required subject gave me a very broad vision of my environment, and an ability to understand complex systems that would come in very handy in my future professional life.

What did your time in the department of Genetics give you while you were studying the degree program?
From the third year of degree program I was part of the department of Genetics, in the specialization program of toxicology Genetics. I worked at the CIFA (Applied Pharmacobiology Research Center) under the direction of Dr. Adela López de Cerain. Due to the design of this center, which was very much oriented towards work with external companies, I acquired an incredibly clear vision of professional life, which under normal conditions I would not have acquired, and which at that time was not sufficiently provided by School.

How was your entrance in the workplace?
While I was preparing my doctoral thesis I was presented with the opportunity to join the engineering department of a group of management and treatment of hazardous waste in plenary session of the Executive Council process of expansion. At that time the environment and its care was in an embryonic state, but some entrepreneurs already saw its great potential.

From environmental studies to renewable energies

What work were you doing in that first business?
My role was to be in charge of the environmental authorizations for the new facilities planned. That is why, as soon as I joined the company, I took one of the only master's degrees on Environmental Impact Assessment offered in Spain. Afterwards, I held different positions in that group of companies, in all subject positions, until I became manager of Quality, Prevention and Environment.

What was your day-to-day life like?
The relationship with the Administration was very close. I had to manage countless procedures that gave me experience and knowledge. I carried out or coordinated programs of study of environmental impact, integrated environmental authorizations, discharge regularization plans, waste minimization plans, programs of study of emissions, noise, etcetera.

And from there you moved on to the renewable energy sector.
That's right. In that new stage I managed biomass, biodiesel, hydrogen and solar thermal projects, applying much of the knowledge acquired for the authorization and development of these subject projects. Unfortunately, the policy on renewable energies changed abruptly -in my humble opinion, wrongly- and the whole sector went into a process of decomposition and almost disappearance, while in other countries it still represents a firm bet for the future.

And the project of your consulting firm, how did it originate?
In this context, I decided to take advantage of my experience and training to set up a consulting firm, IDEA, Energy and Environment, where we try to put in value everything we have acquired in our trajectory. And part of this I am going to tell as a professor partner in the Master's Degree of Biodiversity, Landscapes and Sustainable management of the University of Navarra, a postgraduate program, in my opinion, very complete, since it gives students a much more professional and complete vision of the environment, with experts in this field who offer their experience and their work.

How do you see the environmental sector in the immediate future?
Although today it is already a discipline and a consolidated sector, the environment requires economic activity and actions so that we professionals have the opportunity to work to defend it and promote a Economics that can really grow in a sustainable way.