MADRID: Around 30 multinational and medium-sized companies have signed a declaration calling on Spain’s “public powers” to reach an agreement that would facilitate the “approval of a climate change law and a stable, ambitious and efficient” transition to green energy. Eleven firms listed on Spain’s principal stock exchange, the Ibex35, have backed the proposal: Abertis, Acciona, Bankia, BBVA, Endesa, Ferrovial, Iberdrola, Mapfre, Red Eléctrica de España, Siemens Gamesa and Telefónica. Other major companies such as Eulen, IKEA and NH have also signed the manifesto.
The call comes at a moment when Congress should be debating a climate change law – it was first demanded by Congress in 2011 and President Mariano Rajoy promised to deliver it when he signed the Paris Climate Change Agreement in 2015.
But deputies have been caught up in a months-long commission to establish the new laws without reaching any consensus. Within the government there are also contradictory views on the climate-change law. Energy Minister Álvaro Nadal says that the country should wait until the European Union develops its legislative package on the fight against climate change, while Environment Minister Isabel García Tejerina said this Monday that a draft of the law would be ready soon.
