The event - which from April 26 to 28 showcased the offer of 120 exhibitors specialized in solar energy, storage, environmental technology and circular economy, and was visited by some 7,000 attendees, including national and international professional buyers - highlighted the need to make the necessary changes in order to have clean energy.

Bernd Rohde, CEO of Italian German Exhibition Company Mexico, United States and Canada, said that the transition to clean energy is urgent in the business sector, given the scarcity of strategic natural resources such as water and other effects of climate change that force "today more than ever, (to) make decisions".

He emphasized that these two business events brought together, at a single point, the main suppliers of technology, inputs and equipment to help companies from all sectors and markets to achieve their sustainability and circular economy goals in the years to come.

He mentioned that the first step to initiate this great transition is the massive and accelerated adoption of renewable energies which, in the case of Mexico, due to its geographical position, has an immense potential for large-scale distributed generation.

In this regard, we have compelling figures. In the last decade, the distributed generation scheme in Mexico had a dizzying growth as interconnection contracts increased from 2,000 to 300,000, an increase of 15,000% from 2012 to 2022".

Bernd Rohde added that the prospects are even better, since by 2030, Mexico will have a capacity of 11,300 megawatts, which will be five times the current generation of renewable energies. In addition, with this capacity and the needs of the companies that will relocate to Mexico, sustainable sources will be required, which is why investments are needed to enable the country to participate in global value chains.

"The next natural step is the transition from the linear economy to a circular one, as well as the creation of new business models," he said.

In turn, Alessandra Astolfi, director of Ecomondo Rimini, established that environmental sustainability is no longer an option for companies, but is "the only viable way to combine the preservation of the planet and economic growth," so companies from Mexico, Italy, the United States, Canada, Spain and the Czech Republic participated in the exhibition to showcase innovative solutions in recycling, waste management, industrial wastewater treatment, monitoring, bioenergy, biogas and composting.

"We are investing heavily in the Mexican market which is the second for Italian exports to Latin America after the United States (sic). There are currently 350 Italian companies operating in Mexico, 150 of which have production facilities in the country, and these have been joined by other companies that want to expand their production in Mexico," he said.

Under this scenario, diplomat Luigi De Chiara added that Mexico's competitiveness and economic attractiveness in the global markets of the future will depend on the country's ability to adopt a more sustainable industrial vision on how it produces and with what it produces. "Mexico must have a more sustainable vision. The performance of products in national and international markets is also defined by how things are produced," concluded the Italian Ambassador to Mexico.