Esquerra sets the drive against the climate crisis as a priority and sustains that the commitments made are not being fulfilled

Esquerra Republicana presented a motion before the Spanish Congress on Thursday, urging the Spanish government to comply with the Paris Agreement to address the climate emergency. The agreement, signed in the context of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, aimed among other things to keep the increase in temperature this century well below 2°C and to strengthen the capacity to deal with the impacts of climate change.

10 years later, the vast majority of signatory countries are not complying with it, and Spain is no exception. That is why Esquerra’s group in the Spanish lower house calls on the Spanish government to comply with the agreement through four points in their Non-Legislative Motion: legally binding all public policy of the State to compliance with the agreement; demanding that the European Commission comply with the objectives established in the European Green Deal; promoting initiatives within the framework of the Council of the European Union to condition the negotiation of trade and investment agreements, such as that regarding Mercosur, on full compliance with the Paris Agreements; and finally, accelerating the implementation of green taxation bringing Spain closer to the European average in terms of revenue in this area.

According to a recent report by the Energy Transition and Climate Action Observatory, greenhouse gas emissions in Spain in 2024 were 3.2% above 1990 levels. So Spain is far from meeting the objectives set in its own Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030, which set a 32% reduction in 2030.

“It is urgent for the sovereigntist left to prioritize the fight against the climate emergency at the top of our political priorities,” said the deputy spokesperson for Esquerra in Congress, Teresa Jordà. “We cannot wait any longer, the Spanish government must comply with an agreement that we believe is transcendental,” she added.

Ms Jordà recalled that the climate emergency is already having effects today and that over time these will become more frequent and more intense. “In 2024 we witnessed the devastating DANA in the Valencian Country, the worst drought in a century in Brazil and Namibia, and an episode of more than 1,000 fires in northern Portugal in just five days. Does the PSOE [governing socialist party] need any more reasons to set the climate emergency as a priority?” emphasized Ms Jordà.

Likewise, Esquerra’s number 2 in Congress said that “there is still a lot of work to be done” in the European arena. Ms Jordà recalled that “We must demand that the European Commission leads the fight against climate change on a global scale, also ensuring the necessary finance for developing countries,” and that “We must shield environmental agreements so that they last and remain in force regardless of who governs,” she concluded.