Madrid – In a letter to EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, Spanish Environment Minister Sara Aagesen asked the European Union to move beyond reactive measures and set up a permanent European Climate Adaptation Fund. The proposal, first reported by the Financial Times, calls for binding short‑, medium‑ and long‑term adaptation targets across sectors such as water, health, infrastructure, forests, tourism, agriculture and fisheries.
Why Spain is pressing for action
Spain says the EU has already suffered €822 billion (about $955 billion) in climate‑related losses since 1980, with a quarter of those losses occurring between 2021 and 2024. Record heat waves and wildfires this summer have hit Spain especially hard, underscoring the need for proactive planning.
Key elements of the proposal
- Establish a European Climate Adaptation Fund financed by levies, including a charge on oil and gas profits, and consider common EU debt instruments.
- Require climate‑risk assessments every five years at European, national and regional levels, integrating results into public planning, infrastructure, land‑use and investment decisions.
- Upgrade the EU civil‑protection mechanism, rescEU, into a permanent climate‑emergency response system with shared equipment, protocols and a dedicated aerial firefighting fleet.
- Introduce a public‑private European reinsurance scheme and climate‑risk bonds to help cover extreme‑weather losses.
The Spanish ministry stressed that adaptation measures must remain aligned with the EU’s broader goal of cutting greenhouse‑gas emissions, noting that the effectiveness and affordability of adaptation depend on limiting future warming.
EU response
The European Commission acknowledged that climate‑adaptation funding is part of ongoing EU budget negotiations, and that windfall taxes on energy remain within the competence of individual member states. A spokesperson said the proposal has been shared with other EU countries for further discussion.
Spain’s push follows a recent joint request by Spain, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria for the EU presidency to discuss a mechanism to tax oil‑company windfall profits, a move prompted by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
