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The ring road of the Spanish capital Madrid: burner-free from 2050
Photo: CHEMA MOYA / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
The Spanish parliament has passed an energy transition law that aims to make the country climate neutral by 2050.
"As of today, Spain has a climate law on the basis of which it can resolutely build a green, sustainable, just future with prosperity for all," said Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on the parliamentary vote on Twitter.
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Climate neutrality means that only as many greenhouse gases are emitted as nature and technical measures withdraw from the atmosphere.
A central point of the law is a ban on the sale of vehicles with internal combustion engines from 2040. From 2050, such vehicles should no longer be allowed to drive in Spain.
By 2023 at the latest, all Spanish cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants must set up zones in which the traffic of particularly climate-damaging vehicles is restricted.
74 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030
Spain's greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by at least 23 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
To this end, the share of renewable energies in the country's total energy supply is to increase to 42 percent by 2030 and to at least 74 percent in electricity production.
The climate law that has now been passed is intended to ensure that Spain does its part to make the European Union CO2-neutral by 2050.
Madrid had already committed itself to the EU in January 2020 with the aim of a 23 percent greenhouse gas reduction by 2030.
For environmentalists, the law doesn't go far enough
Since then, however, the climate target for the entire EU has been raised. While the initial goal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the entire EU by 40 percent by 2030, the EU Parliament and the Council of Member States have now agreed in tough negotiations on at least 55 percent. However, the agreement has yet to be put into effect. Germany wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent by 2030 compared to 1990.
For environmentalists, Spain's new climate law doesn't go far enough.
The organization Greenpeace criticized it as "insufficient" for the fulfillment of the Paris climate protection agreement.
The Spanish Environment Minister Teresa Ribera spoke on Twitter of an “indispensable law to build on”.
At the same time, she admitted that Spain should have passed such a law "ten years ago".
ene / AFP
