Spain, the fourth EU country that most reduced its energy emissions in 2020

The year of the pandemic registered in Spain the largest collapse of emissions related to climate change. The restrictions imposed to deal with the coronavirus meant that in 2020 the emissions of carbon dioxide (_CO2) generated by energy were significantly reduced throughout Europe. And it was something especially pronounced in Spain, which became the fourth country in the European Union with the largest decrease, of 16.2% compared to 2019. These are data from the European statistical office, Eurostat.

The average reduction in _CO2 emissions in the European Union as a whole was 10% in 2020, and only three countries were above Spain in relative terms: Greece (-18.7%), Estonia (-18.1%) and Luxembourg (17.9%).

Among the countries with the largest size and population, Spain is the one that managed to reduce its emissions in greater proportion compared to the previous year.

_CO2 emissions

The reduction has been noticed in all countries, although Spain is the first of the main countries by population

For their part, the EU partners that took the least advantage of covid to reduce their emissions were Ireland and Lithuania (-2.6%), Hungary (-1.7%) and Malta (-1%). In any case, the general trend shows that in 2020 there was a notable drop in fossil fuel consumption across the continent.

Carbon dioxide emissions are produced by burning fossil fuels – mainly oil, but also derivatives, natural gas or coal – to, for example, generate electricity or propel means of transport, and account for 75% of the greenhouse gases generated by man, according to Eurostat itself.

Structural and other measures due to lower mobility due to the pandemic

However, the vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition. Teresa Ribera, reacted cautiously to these data. He said “much of that reduction” is attributable to lower electricity production from burning coal. “And this is a structural change that is probably consolidated in our system,” he said.

However, another part is attributable to the transport sector, which has “probably” reduced them as a result of the mobility restriction measures that all Spaniards have had during the past year. That is, “it cannot be thought that this is a guideline that, without additional changes, can be maintained over time”

Therefore, “in the face of the effort that we have ahead, the most significant thing is to be able to incorporate new habits in mobility,” said the minister: “look, especially in urban and metropolitan areas, the least emitting options, non-motorized options, public transport and, in the event of having to resort to motorized options, opt for non-emitting vehicles, that is, electric vehicles,” he added.

The biggest collapse in the history of Spain

Sustainability Observatory Report

The confinement, and the fall in transport and production caused the gases that heat the atmosphere to decrease in Spain in 2020 by 17.9% compared to the previous year, according to a report by the Sustainability Observatory, which brought together all emissions (not only those from energy)

It is the steepest descent in Spanish history. The result was that CO2 emissions were first below 1990 levels, a year commonly used as a reference by countries to assess compliance with international agreements against climate change.

According to these data, after the decreases already recorded in 2018 and 2019, global emissions reached a reduction of 11% compared to the base or reference year (1990) and 42% compared to 2005.

Of the total emissions produced in Spain, 36.4% correspond to those of the large energy-intensive industries (thermal, cement, steel, glass, tiles…) that are subject to the regulated European emissions trading system and that obtain their rights to emit the tons in an area that covers all of Europe.

On the other hand, the rest of the field (transport, building, waste …), the so-called diffuse sectors, represented 61% of total emissions in Spain.x

One of the keys to this new scenario has been the decrease in the burning of coal for electricity generation (55%), accompanied by a reduction in the consumption of natural gas in combined cycle plants (of 25%).

The “portrait” of the energy map was completed with a 23% increase in hydroelectric production, the growth of 1.8% in wind power and a 68% increase in photovoltaics.

Wind, on its own, avoided the emission in 2020 of 29 million tons of CO2 equivalent.

Pre-Glasgow summit dialogue

On the other hand, the Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and the director of the Spanish Office of Climate Change, Valvanera Ulargui, have participated in the sessions organized this Thursday and Friday by the German and British government on the occasion of the celebration of the St. Petersburg Dialogue for Climate Action. The meeting was also attended by the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres; the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, in what has been his last participation in this forum.

The St. Petersburg Dialogue has once again met its annual meeting and has brought together ministers from around the world to discuss the main keys for the next COP26 in Glasgow. Among the issues discussed is the need to provide global responses to the priorities of the most vulnerable countries in terms of adaptation to climate change and resilience.

Minister Teresa Ribera has pointed out that “we must consider and understand the relevance of adaptation and resilience in a context of climate emergency”, as well as the importance “of ensuring concrete results at COP26 that allow us to have common terms of reference that improve the financing of adaptation”.

Carbon markets, a central issue of discussion again

During these two days, ministers discussed some of the thorniest issues to be presented in Glasgow. In this sense, the ministerial discussion on the implementation of international carbon markets, one of the topics of the Paris Rulebook and whose agreement has been pending for more than two years, has been resumed.

In these meetings, ideas have been exchanged to move towards an agreement that allows the launch of international carbon markets based on common and robust rules that ensure the environmental integrity of the system.

The financial agenda for COP26 has also been an important point of debate. All participants agreed on the need for Glasgow to demonstrate the commitment of developed countries to meet the target of mobilizing public and private financial resources of 100 billion dollars from 2020. Increased mobilization of financial resources is needed to facilitate adaptation and strengthen the resilience of developing countries to the impacts of climate change in a context such as the current one, in which the vulnerability of countries to external shocks has been clearly demonstrated.

Finally, ministers discussed aspects related to the ambition cycle of national climate plans or countries’ emission reduction contributions, key to ensuring a regular review of ambition that allows for a more recurrent increase in emissions reduction targets in order to align them with science.

The key role of the transparency framework established in Paris as the backbone of the pact in providing clear and comparable information to assess the individual and collective ambition of each other and the importance of closing the last outstanding issues in Glasgow has also been recognised.

The German chancellor participated in what is possibly her last intervention on climate change at the international level before leaving her post. Merkel, who already chaired the first Berlin Climate Summit in 1995, culminating in a mandate to negotiate the Kyoto Protocol, launched the St. Petersburg Dialogue in 2010. Following the failed climate negotiations in Copenhagen in 2009, the aim of this Dialogue was to create a space for honest and constructive exchanges between ministers to establish trust and common ground.

Source: The Vanguard