MADRID, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Spain is "on the way" to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses such as CO2 by up to 45 percent by the year 2030, Minister for Ecological Transition Teresa Ribera commented in a communique on Monday.
"We are going to activate a model for development which is more balanced, fairer and aimed at meeting the challenge of assuring supplying energy," said Ribera.
Ribera's Ministry was created by Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, shortly after replacing Mariano Rajoy as Spanish leader. It is aimed at strengthening Spain's response to ecological issues and the minister was confident that Spain could meet targets for the reduction of emission of the kind of gasses that are causing climate change.
"As we stand today, Europe is going to fulfil its commitments," she said, before explaining that Spain aimed to go further than merely meet obligations and "reduce emissions the maximum possible."
She highlighted that the rise in global temperatures is already affecting Spain, where recent winters have been warmer than average, while increasingly hot and dry summers have led to droughts which have seen spread of desertification in the south of the country.
"We have to take our role of leader very seriously. Europe has done very important things in questions of the climate, both in terms of domestic politics and in the construction of alliances with other nations," said the minister.
The Spanish government showed its commitment to the generation of clean energy last week with a decision taken by the government to overturn what was popularly known as the "tax on the sun" -- a measure taken by Rajoy's PP government in 2013 to impose a levy on anyone who installed a solar panel to generate their own clean energy.
