Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez floats ‘green bonds’ to help fund €47 billion climate spending

SPAIN’S Prime Minister has announced plans to spend €47 billion on tackling climate change, with some of the money set to come from new ‘green bonds’.

Pedro Sanchez said the spending package aimed to make Spain carbon neutral by 2050. It came as part of a raft of new measures proposed to tackle climate change, but approval is unlikely due to the snap election on Sunday April 28.

Sanchez said the proposals, which are seen as a statement of intent on policy if he wins the election, were necessary and achievable.

“Ecological transition will be achieved with consensus and co-operation and by listening. As always, we will implement measures with the agreement of companies and workers’ representatives,” the Prime Minister said.

Government sources said the green bonds would allow spending in renewable energy to be financed by investors. The introduction of such bonds would signal to investors that the government is committed to environmental sustainability, the sources added.

The bonds are part of measures which officials said would generate business opportunities worth more than €200 billion during the next decade if they are passed. Around €47 billion of that would come from local, regional, national and EU investment, government sources said.

Government forecasts claimed efforts to move the economy towards green energy would increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by between €19.3 and €25.1 billion from 2021 to 2030.

Officials said the proposals would help to reduce Spain’s dependence on imported fossil fuels to meet energy demands. Spain imports about 74 per cent of its energy, 20 percentage points above the EU average.