Spanish Law 7/2021, of 20 May, on Climate Change and Energy Transition
Agustín García-Ureta, Miren Sarasibar Iriarte, Blanca Soro-Mateo, Santiago Álvarez-Carreño, Aritz Romeo Ruiz
The consequences of climate change are apparent on a global scale. The earth’s average temperature is rising, some natural processes are undergoing severe variations (eg. species’ migration or pollination), precipitation patterns are changing, glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising and ‘natural’ disasters abound. They all show that the consequences of climate change are frightful and that it is urgent to adopt measures to mitigate its effects and to adapt to this new scenario. Adaptation to climate change is not a singular option as opposed to reducing the causes that give rise to it but it may be regarded as a necessary supplement to mitigation policies.
1 In fact, adaptation and mitigation are intertwined as they constitute the essential pillars of the global fight against climate change.
2 Mitigation policy is aimed more at limiting the accumulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere by reducing them or improving sinks. Adaptation policy aims to minimise risks, vulnerability and impacts. Whilst mitigation actions require joint and coordinated responses at global level, adaptation must be taken at national or even local level,
since climate change impacts touch every location; therefore, those measures must be undertaken in all spheres and at all territorial levels and with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders. Adaptation measures are therefore essential to cope with unavoidable climate impacts and the economic, environmental and social costs they entail.
3 This need for adaptation is especially acute in those sectors where the climate plays a relevant role, such as agriculture, forestry, health or tourism, among others, where the new panorama created as a result of climate change involves a radical alteration of their features.
