The Climate Change and Energy Transition Act, officially Law 7/2021, of 20 May, on climate change and energy transition (in ) is a Spanish law which received
Royal Assent on 20 May 2021, and came into force on 22 May 2021. Its aim is to ensure Spain's compliance with the goals of the
Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...
. The law was passed by both chambers of the
Cortes Generales (Spain's parliament) and enacted by
King Felipe VI
Felipe VI (;,
* eu, Felipe VI.a,
* ca, Felip VI,
* gl, Filipe VI, . Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. He is the son of former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía, and ...
.
Main provisions
Some of the measures contemplated in this law are:
*It is prohibited to grant new exploration authorisations, research permits and hydrocarbon exploitation concessions throughout the national territory. Nor will new permits be granted for resources extracted for their radioactive, fissionable or fertile properties, such as uranium. In addition, new authorisations for coal production projects at national level will be banned, and (
hydraulic fracturing
Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frack ...
) will come to an end.
*By 2040 at the latest, all new cars must be zero-emission. This means that from that year onwards, no new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (not intended for commercial use) emitting CO₂, the main greenhouse gas contributing to
global warming, may be sold. The aim is to have a fleet of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with no direct CO₂ emissions by 2050.
*Municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants are obliged to establish low-emission zones, in the style of
Madrid Central, to reduce air pollution. There are 149 towns and cities with more than 25 million people.
*Petrol stations are obliged to install charging points for
electric cars. From 2023, all non-residential buildings with more than 20 parking spaces must have charging infrastructure.
Approval
The law was initially approved by the
Congress of Deputies on 8 April 2021 and was sent to the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
for its final approval. The Senate approved the law on 28 April 2021 with some amendments.
On 13 May 2021, the Congress of Deputies made a final vote on the text. The law was approved by the absolute majority of the chamber, with the support of all the groups except
Vox, which voted against, and
PP and
Más País
Más País, or More Country, is a political party in Spain. It was an electoral platform formed by Íñigo Errejón around Más Madrid in order to contest the November 2019 Spanish general election.
The party is positioned on the left-wing of the ...
-
Verdes Equo, which abstained.
Criticisms
Some experts in the field have criticised the lack of ambition of the law and its risk of being "born old".
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...
considers that the objectives are insufficient to fight decisively against the
climate emergency.
See also
*
Climate of Spain
References
External links
Full text of the law
Politics of Spain
2021 in law
2021 in Spain
Law of Spain
{{Climate-change-stub