Spain arrives at Climate Change Summit in Paris in undeniable position of strength", says Isabel García Tejerina

Isabel García Tejerina presided over the swearing in, at the ministerial headquarters on Tuesday, of the new Director of the Spanish Climate Change Office, Valvanera Ulargui, who "joins at a decisive moment for completing the task under way".

In her speech, the minister thanked the former director of the office, Susana Magro, for "her dedication and hard work in recent years at the head of a wonderful team", which has worked tirelessly to contribute towards transforming the policy of fighting climate change in our country.

Leading the fight against climate change

In this regard, the minister highlighted that today Spain complies with the Kyoto Protocol for the period 2008-2012, "something that seemed very distant at the start of this term of office".

Isabel García Tejerina also pointed out that Spain has many initiatives under way that generate low-carbon economic activity and which create sustainable jobs (Plans to Boost the Environment, Climate Projects and the Carbon Footprint Register).

Thanks to all of this, "Spain has managed to assume a leading role in the fight against climate change", where it maintains a very active position in international negotiations, acknowledged both by the European Union and the United Nations.

Against this backdrop, the minister highlighted the agreement of the 28 Member States to reduce their emissions by at least 40% by the year 2030 compared with 1990 levels, to ensure renewable energies amount to 27% of final energy consumption, and to improve energy efficiency by 27%. She also underlined the importance for Spain of including the need to increase energy interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe under this agreement.

Paris COP-21

In terms of the Paris COP-21, Isabel García Tejerina considers that the 196 countries that form the Framework Convention "must reach a binding and global agreement to tackle the global challenge of climate change".

Within this framework, the minister expressed her conviction that Valvanera Ulargui, who has a long professional track-record closely tied to talks on the issue of climate change, will provide continuity to the results to date and help boost "the considerable work that remains to be done in this final stretch leading up to the COP-21".