Climate Change, Environment, Europe, Headlines

ENVIRONMENT-SPAIN: Even Further Away From Kyoto

Alicia Fraerman

MADRID, Apr 24 2006 (IPS) - The Spanish government has promised a plan to halt the accelerating rise in emissions of greenhouse gases. But activists remain unconvinced and are calling for concrete action to reverse the trend that is increasing the country’s distance from the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol.

Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said that a programme to reduce emissions would be implemented soon. She was confident it would achieve its aim, to the extent that she said that emissions would begin to fall by the end of this year.

Narbona told IPS that standards limiting greenhouse gas emissions have already been set for nearly 1,000 large companies, a restrictive measure that is being applied in Spain for the first time.

The government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), is designing a strategy for sustainable development and against climate change, to be implemented by every ministry and province. The plan will be approved and put into effect before the end of the year.

The first law aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions in Spain was passed last year. Sources in the Environment Ministry told IPS that if the centre-right government of José María Aznar (1996-2004) “had taken the Kyoto Protocol seriously, things would be better than they are.”

The source was referring to information published last week by environmental organisations and trade unions, which indicated that emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, increased by 4.41 percent in 2005 with respect to 2004.


That increase drove CO2 emission levels at the end of last year to 52.88 percent above 1990 levels, which is nearly 38 percentage points higher than the maximum limit allowed under the Kyoto Protocol (15 percent above 1990 levels).

The Kyoto Protocol on climate change was signed in 1997 in Japan and entered into force in February, 2005. The first period for which emission targets are set is 2008-2012, during which industrialised countries must cut their greenhouse gas emissions to levels 5.2 percent below 1990 levels, on average.

While the Spanish government has pledged to take measures, non-governmental organisations and trade unions have taken to the streets to demand concrete action. Some 4,000 people, convened by about 100 social organisations, marched through central Madrid in the rain on Saturday, which was Earth Day.

This worldwide celebration was instituted in 1990, although its date commemorates a demonstration held by 20 million people in the United States on Apr. 22, 1970 in defence of the environment.

The march in Madrid was led by children carrying a banner with the slogan “Let’s Stop Climate Change.” Afterwards, songwriter and singer Luis Eduardo Aute read out a manifesto calling for energy efficiency, energy savings, development of renewable sources of energy, a moratorium on thermal generating stations, limits on industrial emission rights, a plan gradually to close the country’s nuclear plants and a sustainable model for transport.

The rise in CO2 emissions was mainly due to a severe drought in Spain in 2005, and to the construction boom, according to a report presented last week by Workers’ Commissions (CCOO), one of the country’s two largest trade union federations, which has close links to the Communist Party.

Low rainfall caused a 40 percent reduction in the use of hydroelectric power, one of the cleanest forms of energy, and an increase in the amount of electricity generated by coal, oil and gas. Activity in the construction industry, one of the most heavily polluting sectors, contributed to the emissions.

If the government’s predictions are fulfilled, Spain’s CO2 emissions will exceed those allowed under the Kyoto Protocol by 52 percent in 2008-2012, and it will therefore have to buy emission rights for 20 million tons a year. However, environmental organisations believe that it will have to buy far more than this amount.

The Protocol permits industrialised countries to invest in clean energy projects in countries in the developing South, and to buy emission rights from countries that emit fewer greenhouse gases than their allowance, in order to meet part of their commitments. If Spain fails to meet its target using all available measures, it faces a fine imposed by the European Union (EU) of 100 euros (130 dollars) per ton.

The EU accounts for more than 22 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and has agreed to reduce its emissions to eight percent above 1990 levels. In 2002, it created a system of emission reduction targets for each of its member countries.

Emission rights can be traded at Powernext, a special exchange based in Paris that was set up on Jun. 24, 2005, which operates a market to enable trading carbon dioxide certificates for cash.

At the presentation of the report, José Nieto, environment secretary for CCOO, criticised Spain’s urban planning policy which has boosted construction, with the result “that Spain is the second biggest market in the world for cement, surpassed only by China.” He added that more houses are being built in Spain every year than in Britain and Germany combined.

Changing this situation will not be easy. Tourism is the main industry in Spain, the largest contributor to its gross domestic product, and consequently most of the new construction is taking place on the Mediterranean coast.

As well as demanding a stronger commitment from the government, the organisers of the Earth Day parade had a message for society as a whole. The spokesman on climate change and energy for Ecologists in Action, Pablo Cotarelo, said that the demonstration was held to “call the attention of ordinary people” to the need for them to make sure their “everyday actions” do not exacerbate climate change.

Non-governmental organisations advocate saving electricity, heating and air conditioning in homes and workplaces, consumption of which has skyrocketed without a proportional return in improving people’s quality of life, he said.

Activists also propose cutting back on the use of private vehicles and developing better public transport. Environmentalists have also demanded a moratorium on thermal power stations.

 
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