The Diplomat
Spain will increase its climate finance for developing countries by 50%, according to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who announced yesterday that the goal to be achieved is a contribution of 1.35 billion euros from 2025.
Sánchez was speaking at the high-level segment of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), which is being held in Glasgow (United Kingdom) until 12 November, where he announced that Spain is going to strengthen external action on adaptation, contributing 30 million euros in 2022 to the United Nations National Adaptation Fund.
The President of the Government believes that, if countries raise their level of ambition, they must back these objectives “with resources” and considers that the objective of reaching 100 billion dollars in climate finance at a global level “is going to be one of the litmus tests of COP26 when it comes to recovering trust between the countries of the North and the South”.
For this reason, he announced that “Spain will do its part” and pledged to increase climate finance to reach 2025 with a “50 percent increase” over the current commitment, with the aim of reaching 1,350 million euros per year from 2025 onwards.
He added that Spain will also allocate 20 percent of its special drawing rights to vulnerable countries, with a minimum of 350 million euros.
In his speech, he pointed out that since COP25 was held in Madrid in 2019, “the certainty of the catastrophic risks of the climate emergency” is growing and scientists are certifying the “code red”.
Sánchez said that the first objective must be to reduce emissions and raise the level of ambition so that the 1.5% target remains within reach. To achieve this, he sees a commitment to renewables, energy efficiency, clean mobility, conservation and restoration of ecosystems and urban rehabilitation as necessary. “We must abandon fossil fuels and it is essential to protect biodiversity and protect the oceans and Antarctica,” he said.
In this regard, he stressed that Spain has reduced coal-fired electricity generation by 90 per cent in the last four years and has done so “with dialogue and social peace” because, in his opinion, the ecological transition “must be fair”.
