This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard Spain Country Manager Wendy Paredes
The framework of energy and climate policy in Spain is determined by the European Union (EU), which in turn responds to the requirements of the Paris Agreement. In this context, the European Commission presented the so-called Climate Target Plan by the year 2030; in this plan, the EU Commission proposes to raise its ambition on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Spain has developed the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) 2021-2030 and the Long-Term Decarbonization Strategy for the year 2050. These plans determine the framework of action in the fight against climate change and the roadmap to move towards climate neutrality by the 2050 horizon.
In the process of implementing these plans, Spain will encounter social and technological challenges. On one hand, most of the population is unaware of the phenomenon of climate change, its causes and possible consequences or has the wrong ideas about it. On the other hand, Spain’s lifestyle model based on high energy consumption enjoys high social acceptance.
More than half of the people from Spain consider that it should be the authorities, companies and industries that should change their behavior and not the citizens. Two out of 10 believe that changing their behavior individually will have no real effects and 87% declare that the authorities should reduce environmental pollution, but it shouldn’t cost them any money.
In addition, important economic sectors see their interests threatened by the proposed emission reduction proposals and openly oppose the implementation of substantial mitigation alternatives, hindering decisive responses to the problem.
It is important that the authorities take action to overcome these obstacles. Access to objective, qualitative and quantitative data, and information are of utmost importance for decision-making, as well as to maintain the trust of both the business sector and the public. Such data can be used in Information and training campaigns developed in collaborations between government, renewable energy associations, industrial associations, and technological institutes.
It also will be necessary to identify and eliminate legal, administrative and economic barriers to changing industrial practices; provide support for the development of renewable energy pilot projects, subsidies for renewable energy use and enact taxes on the production and use of carbon.
Contact Persons
Valvanera María Ulargui Aparicio
General Director of the Spanish Office for Climate Change
Tel.: 91 597 68 44
buzon-sgacc@miteco.es
Image Source: https://theconversation.com/aprobar-la-ley-de-cambio-climatico-un-paso-clave-para-descarbonizar-la-economia-131980