Spain’s green recovery plan among EU’s best, experts say

The contribution of Spain’s recovery, transformation and resilience plan to the green transition is among the best in the EU, according to a report international climate experts highlighting the lack of European ambition to decarbonise the economy, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

Spain plans to allocate 31% of the fund to green spending, according to the survey by the Green Recovery Tracker. Finland, with spending close to 42%, leads the ranking among 14 EU countries, with Poland (18%), Portugal (19%), and Slovenia (5%) among the worst performers.

Spain plans to invest €70 billion in the green transition between 2021 and 2023, according to the plan submitted to the European Commission last week. However, climate experts said this figure is lower than the average share of green investments across the EU which is at 37%.

Regarding the Spanish plan, experts have specified that, although “the general priorities are well defined”, the information on exact measures and projects is “scarce” and the accountability mechanisms “are not very well defined”.

The study also shows that a combined analysis of the measures in the plans of the 14 countries analysed shows a green spending share of only 24%, and warns of a major risk if investments were to end up supporting fossil fuels.

Examples of measures in the plans that are not aligned with the green transition include €3.2 billion set aside by Poland for energy efficiency purposes but that can be used to support gas boilers, or the €600 million Romania will put into fossil gas infrastructure, with no clear potential use for green hydrogen. 

Edited by Paula Kenny, Daniel Eck and Josie Le Blond.

Originally shared by EURACTIV.