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Spain plans to put an end to domestic fossil fuel production by
2050 as part of its long-awaited national net-zero plan.
The country's lower parliamentary chamber, the Congress of
Deputies,
followed the Senate in passing the Law on Climate Change and
the Energy Transition (Climate Change Law) on 13 May.
Sustainability and resilience have been put in sharp relief by
severe weather in Spain, for example record rainfall during Storm
Gloria last year and record snowfall during Storm Filomena in
January, Minister for the Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera told
the Congress of Deputies on the day the vote took place.
The law enters into force the day after its publication in the
Spanish State Official Gazette (BOE), banning new permits for
fossil fuel exploration, research, and production in Spain's land
and ocean territory. The law prevents the extension of all existing
licenses from 31 December 2042.
It also bans uranium mining and fracking, on top of requiring
fossil fuel producers to plan to convert their drilling platforms
to produce renewables, for example, geothermal energy.
While some existing multi-stage fossil fuel permits have reached
survey and exploratory drilling stages, international marine life
advocacy group OceanCare successfully lobbied to stop any more
production phases from starting up after the law's entry into
force. "This actually will mean the end of most, if not all, of the
projects currently being processed," consultant Carlos Bravo,
speaking on behalf of OceanCare, told IHS Markit.
But projects with permits still might be granted 30-year
production concessions before the law's effective date, said
Bravo.
Still, OceanCare, alongside WWF, Greenpeace, and local groups in
the Basque Country, the Balearics, and the Canary Islands, view the
legislation's inclusion of a ban as a step forward.
Even though Spain is a major importer of pipeline and shipped
natural gas, it hosts "virtually no domestic production" of oil and
gas, according to the US Energy
Information Administration.
Repsol's Casablanca platform off Spain's eastern coast operates
E&P at the Lubina and Montanazo blocks, producing net 1,320
barrels of oil equivalent per day. The concession for the Lubina
block, Spain's most recent according to Bravo, was granted in 2012
through the end of 2042.
Spain's fossil fuel permit ban follows similar legislated bans
by EU members France, Denmark, and Ireland. France was an early
mover, banning new oil and gas production in 2017, and setting a
2040 end date for existing production.
Spanish renewables make up for lateness
Spain's Climate Change Law sets in stone certain international
and EU commitments which have been accumulating since the 2015
Paris Agreement.
Under that deal, the world's nations may voluntarily develop
long-term national low GHG development strategies (LT-LEDS) as part
of their mandatory emissions pledges, called National Determined
Contributions (NDCs).
Spain and other EU member states already have submitted their
LT-LEDS to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change, including France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and
Germany.
The recently approved Spanish climate law integrates the
country's existing LT-LEDS and also integrates EU requirements
under the 2019
Clean Energy Package, which obliged member states to create a
National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) for 2021 to 2030. Spain
submitted a draft of its NECP in April, proposing a 23% reduction
of GHG emissions by 2030.
The law has been slow in coming. In 2017, Laurence Tubiana, the
current CEO of the European Climate Foundation and its then
director, accused Spain's government of
dragging its feet on funding climate change policy.
But Spain's carbon intensity is slightly below the EU average.
One reason is its success in decarbonizing the energy sector, where
growth in renewables contributed to a cut in the sector's emissions
of 57% during the 2005-2019 period.
In January 2020, Spain's government followed the European
Parliament in declaring a climate emergency. It sent the Climate
Change Law to parliament in May, according to a blog by law firm
Herbert Smith Freehills.
With the Climate Change Law, Spain is setting a climate
neutrality deadline of 2050, while targeting mid-point 2030 targets
for GHG reductions, renewable energy use, and energy
efficiency.
Several renewable energy targets are envisioned in the bill.
Among them, a 2050 deadline to use exclusively "renewable-based"
generation sources. By 2030, Spain will target overall energy
consumption of at least 42% from renewables, and its target for
renewables in electricity generation will be 74%, surpassing the
65% target set by Germany.
Renewables in the country are set for a further boost under
Spain's plan to use its share of the EU's pandemic recovery fund,
the €800 billion ($960 billion) Recovery and Resilience Facility.
"Renewable energy developers already flocked to Spain before the
COVID-19 pandemic, and for many, business was booming. What the law
does, together with the anticipated funding for the Recovery and
Resilience Plan, is create a positive climate for the continued
growth of renewables in Spain," said IHS Markit Research and
Analysis Manager, Solar and Energy Storage, Josefin Berg.
This will mean Spain's renewable energy developers can explore
more avenues. "Spain's new climate change law sets a legal
framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy sources.
Even if some advocacy groups find the law not ambitious enough, the
regulation sends a clear signal that Spain will be welcoming more
investments in renewables. More than just targets, the law
incorporates items like energy efficiency criteria in public sector
procurement, or a planned change in property law, to facilitate
shared solar systems in neighborhoods," said Berg.
Spain will fund its climate aims in part through income from
auctions of GHG emissions allowances, according to a blog by Madrid-based law firm
López-Ibor Mayor and Associates.
Sector goals for buildings, mobility
Spain's law will also reduce primary energy consumption by at
least 39.5%, in part through a future Housing Rehabilitation Plan
and Urban Renovation policy to be passed by the government, according to Spanish energy
consultancy SinCeO2.
Under the Climate Change Law, companies also will be obliged to
calculate and make public their carbon footprints, alongside
drawing up plans to reduce their GHG emissions, said SinCeO2.
For the mobility sector, the law also provides for the gradual
adoption of measures intended to align with EU goals for the
emissions produced by newly registered cars and vans. Spain will
ensure more zero-emissions cars and vans are sold by no later than
2040. What's more, it will create a Technical Building Code that
obliges the installation of electric vehicle charging points in
newly constructed buildings and fuel supply facilities.
The law will oblige cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, as
well as Spain's island territories, to adopt emissions-reducing
sustainable urban mobility plans by 2023. For ships, it will
progressively reduce the use of fossil fuels by vessels and
platforms in ports, building on EU regulations like the Sulphur
Directive.
Bravo noted that some mobility measures could have been
stronger. "There is no mention whatsoever of zero-emission mobility
in heavy freight transport or a firm commitment to zero-emission
fuels in maritime transport," he said.
Posted 21 May 2021 by Cristina Brooks, Senior Journalist, Climate and Sustainability
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