COP27: Spain’s fight against climate change

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has asked before the COP27 Leaders’ Summit for the maximum political commitment in the fight against climate change and that the energy crisis derived from the war in Ukraine not be used as an excuse to relegate it or “break the word given”.

During his speech in the plenary, with which he closed a busy schedule on his only day at the climate summit in Egypt (COP27), he said that, on the contrary, the crisis must be “an additional motivation to accelerate the ecological transition” and has defended that this is being done by the European Union.

Sánchez has asked to respond to climate change with an ambitious agenda, because “our lives are going on it”, and has assured that the leaders participating in COP27 have “the moral requirement to act with determination and firm step” and that Spain will be “up to the task” to advance on that shared path.

In his opinion, only the “maximum political commitment” will be able to respond to the challenge of climate change and it is essential to emerge from lethargy and act with the determination demanded by young people around the world “from a new internationalism of progress” that crosses borders.

Fifty accessions to the Drought Alliance

As part of this commitment, Spain will contribute an additional 20 million euros to the Adaptation Fund and will promote with 5 million euros the implementation of the International Partnership for Drought Resilience, promoted jointly with Senegal, Sánchez announced.

This alliance, to which some thirty countries have already joined, including the United States and China, and a score of organizations, seeks to raise on the political agenda the need to take measures to adapt and be able to face future droughts, as well as share knowledge to achieve it.

Government sources have described as a success for Spanish diplomacy that the United States and China coincide in the same alliance, and have stressed that since the beginning of COP27 two days ago, the adhered countries have gone from 18 to 29.

Additionally, Spain will allocate 3 million euros to the Systematic Observation Mechanism of the World Meteorological Organization and 2 million to the Santiago Network, created to channel technical assistance from organizations and experts to vulnerable countries.

Spain as a global hub for sustainable fuels

Sánchez has also participated in a table on just transition to explain the process of closing coal mines in Spain, agreed with companies and unions and that has aroused interest among countries seeking to decarbonize their economy.

In addition, he attended the launch of the “Green Shipping Challenge”, an initiative promoted by the United States and Norway to promote the decarbonization of maritime transport and to which they ask both governments and companies to join.

The “challenge” was presented by the United States Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, and the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, before whom Sánchez has defended that Spain can contribute significantly to the development of sustainable fuels due to its geographical location, its renewable potential and the know-how of its industry.

“Leading companies worldwide such as Cepsa or Maersk have chosen Spain as a production center for green fuels, such as e-methanol or ammonia, from hydrogen,” stressed the President of the Government.

“We welcome the opportunity to join the Green Shipping Challenge and hope that our efforts and investments will be part of the solutions to achieve a maritime industry with zero net emissions,” said Sánchez. Recently, it was made public that the Danish Maersk will lead a project in Spain to produce green methanol for its fleet with an investment that the Spanish Government estimates at 10,000 million euros until 2030.

Source: Ambientum