The 10 companies that pollute the most in Spain

The 10 most polluting companies have emitted 62% of total fixed emissions and 25% of total emissions in Spain. Only Endesa, which is at the top of this obscure list, emits 9.28% of all the tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) gases that are expelled into the atmosphere.

This list is included in the report ‘Most polluting companies in Spain: responsibility of large energy and industrial companies on climate change’, prepared by the Observatory of Sustainability.

Here’s the list, sorted from most to least polluting:

1-Endesa: 30 million tonnes, 23% fixed sectors and 9.28% of the country’s total

2-Repsol: 10.6 million, 8% fixed sectors and 3% of the country’s total

3-Naturgy: 9 million, 7% compared to fixed sectors and 2.8% of the total

4-EDP: 9 million, 7% of fixed sectors and 2.7% of total

5-ArcelorMittal 6 million, 5% of fixed sectors and 1.82% of total

6-CEPSA: 4.6 million, 3.55% of fixed sectors and 1.44% of the total

7-Viesgo: 3.8 million, 2.88% of fixed sectors and 1.17% of the total

8-Iberdrola: €3.3 million, 2.49% of fixed sectors and 1% of total emissions

9-CEMEX: 3 million, 2.31% and 0.94% of total emissions

10-Lafarge-Holcim: 2.9 million, 2.19% of fixed sectors and 0.89% of the total

By sector, it is observed that the main polluting sector continues to be the burning of fossil fuels; that is, coal, fuel and gas with 53%, followed by cement with 11%, refineries with another 11%, steel production with 5%, followed by aviation with almost 4% of. Ceramics with 2.7%… Regarding exchange rates, it is observed that ammonia production and aviation represent high growth rates of 17% and 9%, as well as steel mills 5%, cement production 2.6% or refineries 1.4%. However, other sectors such as the combustion of fossil fuels have reduced in the last year by 13%. It is true that the spring of 2018 was unusually wet (higher rainfall since 1965) so it remains to be seen if this trend continues over time.

The relationship between GDP and CO2 emissions remains unanchored. It is observed that in Spain between 1990 and 2017 CO2 emissions rose by 17% and GDP by 73% while in Europe in the same period emissions fell by 22% while GDP grew by 58%.

The price of carbon has multiplied by 3 in the period of 2018 so companies are trying to emit less. At present the price is 24 euros ton when at the beginning of 2018 the hard was just 8 euros ton.

Other countries have already started their path towards decarbonization, between 1990 and 2016 England, -39.4% Germany, -27.3%, Belgium -19.7% Italy, -17.5%, or Holland -11.80% gradually reduced them, while Spain increased them by 13%. As these countries have already been towards decarbonization for decades, now Spain will have to take those measures in much less time. In any case, the goal of reducing emissions by 35% by 2030 is still a long way off.

Source: Counter-information