MADRID, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Spain has urged the European Union to create a dedicated climate adaptation fund and establish binding adaptation targets as costs mount from accelerating climate change, which this summer triggered record heat and wildfires across the EU.
Madrid calculates that European Union countries have accumulated €822 billion ($955 billion) in losses due to climate change and extreme weather losses since 1980, about a quarter of them between 2021 and 2024, the most recent data point.
Spain is also one of the countries hardest hit by rising summer temperatures, wildfires and droughts.
The EU has committed to climate neutrality by 2050 and to cutting greenhouse emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. Its 2021 Adaptation Strategy is being updated and expanded by the EU executive, the Commission, into an Integrated Climate Resilience Framework to put to member states.
In a letter to EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, made available to Reuters on Friday, Environment Minister Sara Aagesen said Spain believed reactive policies were no longer sufficient to protect security, prosperity and competitiveness.
It called for a European Climate Adaptation Fund and suggested raising revenue through levies including a charge on oil and gas profits. Common EU debt instruments should also be considered, it said.
SPAIN WANTS RISK ASSESSMENTS INTEGRATED INTO PLANNING
The proposal, first reported by the Financial Times on Friday, called for climate risk assessments every five years at European, national and regional levels, for integration into public planning, infrastructure, land use and investment decisions.
It suggested introducing binding short-, medium- and long-term adaptation targets, initially covering sectors including water, health, infrastructure, forests, tourism, agriculture and fisheries.
Spain also proposed upgrading the EU’s civil protection mechanism, rescEU, into a permanent climate-emergency response system with shared equipment and protocols and a dedicated aerial firefighting fleet.
Other proposals included a public-private European reinsurance scheme and climate-risk bonds to help cover losses from extreme weather.
Madrid said adaptation must remain aligned with efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, as its effectiveness and affordability would depend on limiting future warming.
A Spanish Environment Ministry spokesperson told Reuters the proposal had been shared with other EU member states.
The Commission said funds for climate adaptation were part of EU budget negotiations, and that windfall taxes on energy were within the competence of individual countries.
Last month, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria asked the EU presidency to discuss in September a mechanism to tax oil companies’ windfall profits, triggered by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
($1 = €0.8604)
(Reporting by Benjamín Mejías Valencia and Emma Pinedo; Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Kevin Liffey)