- In 2023, carbon dioxide emissions in the Spanish State decreased by 5.3%. Of the ten largest companies, only one has increased, the airline Iberia, with an increase of 10.7%. The first in the pollutant list is Repsol.
El Salto, journalist Pablo Rivas, analyzed the report Decarbonisation 2023, published by the Sustainability Observatory of the Spanish State. According to the report, Repsol is the first company to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In 2020 he was ahead of Endesa and since then he is the leader of the classification.
The ten most polluting companies in the Spanish state are Repsol, with 11.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. It is followed by three major electricity companies, Endesa (10,5), EDP (5,6) and Naturgy (4,8). There is a seventh electric company, Iberdrola (3,5). The steel industry ArcelorMittal ranks fifth (4.3) and the sixth oil company Cepsa (3.8). Iberia (AEG, 3.6), the FCC builder (2.9) and LafargeHolcim (1.9), the Spanish companies that contributed the most to global warming last year, occupy the eighth and tenth place.
Good news
In Spain, in 2023, there was economic growth, with a growth of 2.5% in Gross Domestic Product. However, carbon dioxide emissions improved. Compared to 2022, emissions decreased by 5.3%. Emissions increased by 9% in 2022.
The journalist from EL Salto spoke to the director of the Sustainability Observatory, Fernando Prieto, who gave his approval to the decline, despite the fact that the figure should be lower: “To put it somewhat, it has reduced the economies and a decarbonisation is taking place. This is good, with one exception, the air sector has increased greatly. Prieto believes that the percentage should be higher so that the Spanish State could meet the objectives set by the scientific community and not increase the temperature of 1.5 C: “It had to drop by 7%, but, well, it is ok to go down”.
The electricity sector has dramatically decreased its emissions
Iberia has increased its emissions by 10.7%. On the contrary, there are three of those who fall the most from 2022. Naturgy decreased by 33.9%, ArcelorMittal by 31.8% and Iberdrola by 11.4%. The Observatory notes the significant drop in the electricity sector, which is 24.4%. Director Prieto believes that the decrease is due “to the closure of carbon plants and, above all, to a very good year for hydropower”
These top ten listed companies are responsible for 59.9% of emissions taking into account the carbon market. As for total state emissions, they fall behind 19.1%.