Madrid Temperature Could Top 50 Celsius by 2100
Date: 14-Feb-07
Country: SPAIN
Author: Julia Hayley
Rainfall in southern Spain, large areas of which are already at risk of desertification, could fall by as much as 40 percent.
The ministry wants to persuade the governments of the 17 autonomous regions, who have wide powers over environmental policy, to prepare for global warming and to help stop it.
Spain, struggling to contain emissions from an economy growing annually at 4 percent, is one of the countries that climate change will hit hardest and where carbon emissions are growing fastest.
Tuesday's 50 pages of measures to curb emissions include moves to discourage the use of cars in cities, such as increased parking charges, higher taxes on the most contaminating vehicles and better public transport.
Houses will be encouraged to phase out coal-fired boilers while commercial buildings including shopping centres will have strict benchmarks for efficient heating and cooling.
Farmers will be encouraged to reduce emissions by managing animal dung or using less nitrogen-based fertilizer to reduce the release of nitrous oxide, another greenhouse gas.
Spain has an energy saving plan and renewable energy goals already in place and recently took steps to enforce the use of solar panels and increase energy efficiency in new buildings.
The report said that in a worst case scenario, average temperatures in inland Spain will rise by 5-8 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Madrid's mercury peaks in the 40s Celsius during July.
In a less dramatic scenario, where industrial countries manage to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the interior would be 3-6 Celsius hotter on average.
The climate data are based on a number of studies, some of which are six or seven years old.
Spanish greenhouse gas emissions were 49 percent above 1990 levels in 2004, the highest of any backer of the Kyoto agreement, and it has to cut them to a 15 percent increase by 2008-12 under its commitment to the international accord.