The councilor for Environment and Climate Change, Ángeles Vázquez, has emphasized that Galicia has a comprehensive and transversal climate action strategy that is already bearing fruit, as it is one of the European regions, and the first in the whole State, that has most reduced net greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990.
She presented this on Wednesday in the Galician Parliament in response to an interpellation from BNG deputy Luis Bará, who denounced the absence of effective measures by the Xunta in the face of the climate crisis and criticized the "irresponsibility" of using this "emergency that causes deaths" as a claim in a tourism campaign.
"Dismiss this aberrant nonsense of the campaign Galicia Climate Refuge," Bará demanded, urging the regional government to admit that we are experiencing a "climate crisis situation." The nationalist parliamentarian accused the Xunta of trying to "make a profit" from a "serious environmental crisis" and warned that the drought is already impacting productive sectors. "And what was your great idea to solve this problem? Build more reservoirs," he criticized, also assuring that numerous Galician rivers "are in ICU" due to the "poor management" of the Galician Executive.
In response to these accusations, the councilor defended that Galicia has a comprehensive, transversal, and multidisciplinary climate roadmap that places the Community at the forefront of the fight against global warming.
Ángeles Vázquez recalled that since 2019 a Galician climate change strategy has been underway, deployed through integrated regional plans. As she explained, the first plan, completed in 2023, included 139 measures and mobilized 1.140 billion euros. The second plan, already operational with a horizon of 2030, contemplates 93 actions and nearly 1.800 billion in funding.
After reiterating that this planning is already yielding tangible results, she pointed out that the Xunta maintains as priority axes to continue cutting emissions, adapt to the effects of global warming, deepen research into its causes and consequences, and strengthen training, awareness, and dissemination among citizens.
In this line, he has emphasized that for each of these areas, actions are being developed with "ambitious, realistic, and made with rigor" measures, among them those aimed at consolidating Galicia as a climate refuge and transforming municipalities into greener spaces.
He has given as an example that, in the last two years, the Xunta has allocated 4 million euros to support local entities in 75 climate refuge projects. At the same time, progress is being made in the creation of the network of climate refuges provided for in the Climate Law of Galicia.
For his part, Luis Bará has insisted that the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is "pure greenwashing." "A coat of green paint that you give to the ministry because you have very little in green policies," he stated, adding that the regional government is more of "brown," a color that "stains the water" due to its "poor management."
Social Climate Plan and criticisms of the central Government
In the same parliamentary session, the councilor also responded to a question from PP deputy Nazaret Cendán regarding the Social Climate Plan.
On this matter, Ángeles Vázquez has pointed out that, while the Xunta has been promoting policies for years to place Galicia at the forefront of climate action, the central Government maintains, in her opinion, an attitude of inaction that puts 62 Galician projects and almost 2 billion euros of investment at risk.
She lamented that the Xunta still does not have a response to the allegations sent to the draft of the Social Climate Plan, the document that will allow autonomous communities to access resources from the Social Climate Fund of the European Union.
In this context, she reproached the state Executive that, in addition to presenting the Fund almost a year late compared to the deadline set by the EU, it has not specified in the draft which proposals were accepted, which were modified, or which initiatives were left out, nor the criteria used to select the projects.
Faced with this scenario, the councilor has reiterated that the "incompetence" of the Government cannot hinder climate action or policies aimed at the most vulnerable groups. She added that Galicia has already begun to implement, with its own resources, measures in areas such as energy transition, housing, sustainable mobility, and adaptation to climate change.