The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, today presented the initiatives selected in the 2017 call for Climate Projects and announced the new call for this year, with the aim of achieving initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the diffuse sectors (transport, residential, fluorinated gases, small industry, waste or agriculture) through public-private collaboration.
García Tejerina highlighted the value of this initiative, which the Ministry is committed to and which has become “a useful tool in the fight against climate change which, after six years of operation, has been consolidated as a successful initiative”, said the minister. The 2018 call will be the seventh. The Minister emphasized that “all projects that contribute to Spain’s progress towards a green, circular and low-carbon economy will have the support of this Ministry”.
The Climate Projects are intended to support and promote low-carbon activities, allowing the FES-CO2 Carbon Fund to acquire the verified emission reductions generated by the selected projects, which must contribute to achieving the objectives assigned to Spain for the 2013-2020 period.
62 PROJECTS IN 2017 AND OPENING OF THE NEW CALL FOR PROPOSALS.
In the 2017 call, 62 projects were selected out of 111 submitted, which will reduce a total of three million tons of CO2 and formalize the acquisition of verified emission reductions, exceeding 36 million euros this year.
These Climate Projects are aimed at reducing emissions in diffuse sectors such as transport, residential, waste, agriculture and livestock, fluorinated gases and industry not subject to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Starting tomorrow, the project submission phase for the 2018 call opens, with the deadline for applications ending next May 14. García Tejerina emphasized the Ministry’s interest in maintaining the success of the last calls, encouraging everyone to “continue participating, innovating and proposing new ideas to continue reducing greenhouse gas emissions and help achieve our goals as a country and as a society”.
MORE THAN 300 INITIATIVES SELECTED IN SIX YEARS
After the first six years, the Climate Projects are proving to be examples of the generation of economic activity in our country, favoring the creation of employment in sectors associated with the fight against climate change. In total, nearly 900 proposals were submitted, more than 300 emission reduction projects selected, 115 million euros in contracts signed, with the capacity to reduce emissions by more than 10 million tons of CO2 equivalent.
The residential-commercial-institutional sector continues to be, as in previous calls for proposals, the sector with the highest number of projects. A total of 25, plus 5 in the agricultural sector, 13 in the waste sector, 8 in the transport sector, 6 in the industrial sector and 5 in the fluorinated gases sector.
The minister stated that “this government’s commitment to the initiative has been renewed year after year with the allocation of the necessary resources to the Carbon Fund for a Sustainable Economy”.
ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Climate projects bring environmental, social and economic benefits, encourage Spanish companies to be more competitive, and strengthen their leadership in sectors and in the use of technologies. All this in a context of public-private collaboration and thanks to the participation of large and small companies, administrations and entities of all kinds.
These projects “serve as an example and stimulus for society as a whole, and help each individual to become aware of and reflect on the carbon footprint that each of us generates,” García Tejerina stressed.
The Climate Projects have the capacity to promote innovation, and to generate new economic activity and employment within our country, “in line with the objectives of our Government, which, above all, seeks to make environmental objectives compatible with the creation of wealth and well-being, within a framework of economic recovery. We are convinced that the necessary transformation of our productive system, which requires us to protect the environment, constitutes an opportunity for growth and innovation”, concluded the Minister.
