Climate action in Spain: Latest state of play

Briefing 29-04-2021

The EU's binding climate and energy legislation for 2030 requires Member States to adopt national energy and climate plans (NECPs) covering the period 2021 to 2030. In October 2020, the European Commission published an assessment of each NECP. A high proportion of Spaniards (67 %) expect national governments to tackle climate change. Spain accounts for 9 % of the EU's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Between 2005 and 2019, the country reduced emissions by 27 %, performing better than the EU average. The carbon intensity of the Spanish economy is slightly below the EU average. The transport sector is the largest emitter in the country, generating 27 % of emissions, followed by the energy industry with a share of 16 % of emissions. The energy sector cut emissions by 57 % during the 2005-2019 period, strongly contributing to the country's total emission reduction. Under the EU effort-sharing regulation, Spain has committed to reducing non-ETS emissions by 26 % by 2030 (compared with 2005) and plans to surpass this target. Looking forward to 2030, Spain has considerably increased its level of ambition for the energy transition, moving from a 2020 target of a 20 % share of renewable energy in the energy mix to a 2030 target of 42 %. The country plans to focus primarily on the deployment of solar and wind power. The proposed measures are expected to generate energy efficiency improvements of over 39 %.