Aagesen explains in Davos the keys to the green agenda in Spain to boost economic growth with social justice

The Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, during her participation in the event

Organised by the World Economic Forum, which is being held in Davos, Sara Aagesen has explained at this event the successful green model encouraged by Spain within the "essential" role that a rapid development of large-scale clean energy infrastructures plays in maximising the winning balance between sustainability, economic growth, energy security and social justice.

For the vice-president, the planning, regulation and incentives encouraged by the government activate public-private partnership - including civil society - so that industrial clusters can accelerate the development of these clean energy macro infrastructures and, at the same time, serve as a testing ground for innovative projects.

"When you have planning, you can turn challenges into opportunities. So, you have to think about the opportunities. Once certainty is in place, the policy framework is established. We have a vision for 2030 and 2050, because we want to give the right signals early. This is when investors and civil society can maximise the opportunities," she said.

Spain has an updated roadmap for 2030, the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC), a Long-Term Decarbonisation Strategy for 2050 and, within the EU framework, a new financial framework for the next generation, in which it has been decided to mobilise a significant number of resources for the energy transition to make the transformation of the country's economy a reality.

By 2030, the drive for a clean and just transition in our country has set the balance between economic growth and competitiveness - twice the GDP growth compared to a scenario without green policies - with ambitious decarbonisation and strategic security objectives: huge reduction (32%) of greenhouse gas emissions (55% compared to 2005) and improvement of energy autonomy (reducing dependence to 50%, compared to 73% in 2019), among others.

An agenda has also been constructed taking into account their impacts. The update of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) included a socio-economic impact analysis, which has been highly appreciated by both society and the business sector.

Renewable hydrogen

Sara Aagesen highlighted the power of the strategic vision that is being applied in the commitment to the development of renewable hydrogen.

In the last five years, renewable hydrogen in Spain has gone from being the object of mere research to becoming a central element of the decarbonisation strategy in our country, with the implementation of a programme of renewable hydrogen valleys - with an investment of 1.35 billion euros - that has awakened significant interest from the private sector (1.555 billion euros in the Spanish Hydrogen Roadmap + 1.6 billion euros of the Transformation Recovery and Resilience Plan).

These renewable hydrogen clusters foster synergies between producers and industrial users. They will also enable the large-scale production and consumption of green hydrogen, reducing costs and reinforcing Spain's leadership in innovation in renewable energies.

Non official translation