Spain’s new Energy and Climate Plan: facts, figures and recommendations for transport

Spain is on the right path to clean transport’s energy via electrification and to make the transport system more energy efficient through modal shift and less mobility. However, some room for improvement remains.

Spain has wisely included in the draft NECP the decision of eliminating soy and palm biofuels in 2025 but it still has to be approved.It is also setting lower caps on first generation biofuels and opting to electrify transport.

However, the NECP wrongly maintains that the road freight sector is a difficult sector to decarbonise through direct electrification, which is flatly wrong. In addition, it still relies on LNG and biomethane for ships undermining the national e-ammonia and e-methanol production potential.

There is insufficient evidence that the planned measures will enable Spain to catch-up with delays accumulated in the electrification of road transport.
The Plan contains a good level of information, lists which measures are additional to the old NECP and identifies the national authorities responsible for the implementation of the policy or measure. However, it is not always clear from the Plan which governance structure is in place to monitor the delivery of what is planned. Nonetheless some good governance examples can be found (e.g. the establishment of a task force for the charging infrastructure deployment).

Read more from our attached briefing.