Euskadi will allocate 305 million for the reduction of emissions and the reinforcement of renewable energies

The Basque government has approved this Tuesday the Energy Transition Plan and Climate Change 2021-2024 with the goal of reducing emissions and strengthen renewable energies, as well as adapt the territory to the impacts of climate change.

Specifically, the plan seeks reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%; get the share of renewable energies represent 20% of final consumption of energy; and ensure the resilience of the Basque territory to climate change.

As explained by the Minister of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Arantxa Tapia, this plan is a tool with which the Basque Country “reinforces and intensifies” its commitment to meeting international objectives to try to slow down the rate at which the weather is changing and increase the capacity to respond to its effects, “which are already noticeable in different areas.”

In this sense, the counselor has highlighted the importance of “forecasting and anticipating risks, in order to have a good alert system for extreme situations and with sufficient resources to face them. “

“For this reason, the reinforcement of emergencies, civil protection and the health system are established as key elements in this document,” he added.

The counselor explained that it is a cross-sectional plan drawn up with a vision in which energy and climate variables come together, and in which a forecast and anticipation of risks is included.

He described this tool as a pioneer and explained that among the projects, those aimed at achieving an “exemplary” planning of the territory for the development of renewable energies and turning the Basque Country into an international benchmark for ocean energy stand out.

It also includes measures to position the Basque industry at the forefront of technological development of onshore and offshore wind infrastructures, facilitate the implementation of photovoltaic solar energy installations and create an ecosystem for the production, distribution and consumption of hydrogen in the Basque Country.

In the field of sustainable mobility, the proposals seek to establish a model that responds to energy and environmental commitments, reduce the effect of greenhouse gases through the circular economy and increase the potential of carbon sinks. Likewise, the plan seeks to promote the preparation of municipalities and coastal infrastructures for climate change.

This plan is approved as a previous step to the first Energy Transition and Climate Change Law of the Basque Country, currently in the process of being processed, with which the Basque Government wants the autonomous community to be among the first European regions adapted to the community regulatory context, which according to Tapia, will allow the Basque Public Administration to be a “model” for the energy transition.

The plan is structured in three main axes directed to achieve neutrality, the resilience of the territory and the transversality of climate action and the energy transition; and nine lines of action, which collect 15 flagship initiatives encompassed in specific areas of work, such as renewable energy, urban regeneration or the circular economy; in sectors such as industry, the primary sector, or emergencies; and in cross-cutting and necessary areas, such as innovation or the just transition.

World Alliance

In this sense, the Minister added that “the response to climate change requires actions and more actions, so today we are also taking a step forward in our commitment to placing Basque industry at the forefront of this country’s challenge.”

The Basque Government will thus promote the Euskadi Net Zero Industrial Cluster Alliance by which the Basque industry is committed to net zero emissions in 2050, and which will be established and presented this Wednesday at the Barakaldo BEC.

It is a local initiative, in which the industrial clusters will be involved, with the involvement of the founding companies of this alliance, Petronor and Iberdrola, and aims to make “the subsequent leap forward on a global scale.”