Carmen Bunzl - Universidad Pontificia Comillas

Chapter 4. Case Study: Spain 165
recent Commission’s proposal for effort sharing – as of 23 rd January 2008 – is
discussed and assessed for the case of Spain.
2 Current situation, trends and projections
2.1 Introduction
Countries vary substantially in their national circumstances, including
emission profiles, energy use and action against climate change. This section
provides an overview of a number of important national circumstances,
characteristics and trends for negotiations on post-2012 climate change
architectures for Spain, allowing for a better assessment of the acceptability of
specific proposals.
Data has been gathered from a variety of sources, with the preference of
formally accepted data such as from the government – e.g. 2008 emission
inventory submitted to the UNFCCC. Further sources are data from recognized
international sources such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) or the
World Bank.
The IPCC, in its special report on emission scenarios (Nakicenovic and
Swart, 2000), states that the major driving forces of past and future
anthropogenic GHG emissions include demographics, economics, resources,
technology and (non-climate) policies.
This chapter compiles some of the most important national and sectoral
factors and indicators regarding climate change of Spain. It presents, first, broad
socio-economic factors, such as total emissions, GDP, population and total
primary energy supply; second, indicators underlying such socio-economic
factors (generally referring to intensities, percentages or efficiencies at the
national or sectoral level); and, third, cross-cutting factors including technology,
policies and measures, and costs of mitigation.
Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería ICAI Carmen Bunzl Boulet Junio 2008