James Warren
SPAIN, one of Europe’s most polluted countries, aims to become climate neutral by 2050, according to new plans revealed yesterday.
The second National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change was launched by the Ministry of Ecological Transition on Wednesday, which outlined new guidelines to serve as a ‘rule book’ to help transform the country’s emissions.
The document covered all areas of climate change, including transport, energy, water usage, biodiversity, desertification, hunting and fishing and agriculture and livestock.
It also plans to be used as an impetus towards implementing the ‘Green New Deal’, a scheme born in the 2019 elections by the PSOE to utilise Spain’s natural resources and push for a greener country.
Since the 1980s, temperatures in Spain have risen on average by 1C, while the summer period has increased by up to five weeks.
Desertification and the destruction of wild habitats have also expanded to many areas of Andalucia and overcrowded cities have increased in capacity by 12% since 1996.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 10,000 people die every year thanks to the effects of climate change, including air pollution or natural disasters such as flooding and storms.
Vice President of the Ministry, Teresa Ribera, announced the revised document during a press briefing and explained: “The economic impacts of climate change substantially outweigh the costs involved in managing it.”
According to research, the effects of the coronavirus lockdown has reduced air pollution by 64% since March 14, but experts have insisted that once the country comes back to life, we must adapt how we live or we will be back to square one.
Major Hollywood celebrities such as Madonna and Penelope Cruz penned an open letter to French publication Le Monde yesterday too to reiterate the message of changing the world’s behaviors after the COVID-19 pandemic has eased.
