Speech by President of the Government of Spain at Climate Ambition Summit

Madrid

SPEECH BY PESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

The climate emergency is the greatest challenge of our civilisation. Hence, we should view climate action as not only a potential investment for our economies, which indeed it is, but also as an obligation for the safety of our men and women, and also as a guarantee of the future of the generations to come. In 2020, the Government of Spain has taken some sound, decisive and unequivocal steps to lay the foundations for change and speed up the ecological transition:

• In January, we issued a Climate Emergency Declaration, approved by the Council of Ministers.

• In May, we presented the Draft Climate Change and Energy Transition Act.

• In September, we adopted the National Adaptation to Climate Change Plan.

• And today, I am pleased to announce a new milestone to boost this commitment by the Government of Spain and Spanish society to adaptation and in the fight against climate change. We have just approved the Long-term Decarbonisation Strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2050

This whole strategy we have tirelessly been developing is based on two fundamental pillars:

• The first is that we will change the energy sources we consume: 97% must be renewable.

• And we are going to reduce consumption by 50% thanks to energy efficiency and savings. Hence, this is more than just a political strategy; it is a collective commitment to a different world in which our homes, our public buildings, our cars, the means of transport we use, our offices and factories, etc. are adapted and designed to contribute to the ultimate goal of climate neutrality, the ultimate goal, in short, of saving our planet.

The forecast is that by 2030, there will be 5 million electric vehicles on our highways and that by 2050 practically all air conditioning systems will run on renewable energy and that that 25% of industrial energy consumption will come from green hydrogen. These are the forecasts the Government of Spain is working with. That is what we are working towards. These transformations logically require complex and difficult decisions, particularly for sectors in transition, such as thermal and nuclear power stations and the coal mining industry. To that end, we have also approved the Just Transition Strategy to ensure that no-one is left behind, to ensure that these are not transitions that exclude, but that integrate the majority of the population, above all in those regions in which opportunities are diminished as a result of this energy transition.

In short, I trust that this Climate Ambition Summit will help us keep our finger on the pulse so that together we can make true progress in Glasgow next year, so that together we can build a world that our sons, daughters and grand-children deserve.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Non official translation