The Gran Canarian palms, Santa Cruz of TenerifeLa Laguna, Telde and Arona These are the five Canarian municipalities that have the largest global carbon footprint. In these cities – which coincide with the most populous of the Islands – the 40% of the carbon dioxide of the municipalities of the islands, amounting to 10 million tons. However, the Canary Islands are in a privileged situation, since the amount of carbon it emits per inhabitant per year (4.72 million tons), is much lower than that estimated at the national level, situated at 7.6 tons of CO2 per year per person.
“The data make sense, given that they coincide with populations of more than 50,000 inhabitants,” stressed this morning the Minister for Ecological Transition and the Fight against Climate changeJose Antonio Valbuena. The regional Executive today presented the inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in the Canary Islands, with data that is intended to be the starting point for identifying carbon dioxide sources and measuring actions in terms of decarbonisation.
The emission rate of the Canary Islands is below the national average
However, when measuring carbon footprint per inhabitant, the results are very different. The canaries that emit the most carbon dioxide on a daily basis are those of Tejeda, Betancuria, Tías, Pájara and La Oliva. Each of the 1,909 residents of Tejeda emit an amount of CO2 equivalent to 30.59 tons, the highest in the entire Canary Islands. Behind is Betancuria (municipality of 758 inhabitants) in which the ratio of emissions per inhabitant amounts to 9.15 tons.
Thus, for example, despite being the most polluting cities, the inhabitants of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Laguna, Telde and Arona, are not the ones with the largest carbon footprint. “Except for Arona, the average ratio of emissions per inhabitant is lower in these places than the regional average”, insisted Valbuena, who considered these data “good news”, since “achieving a reduction in emissions will be easier”.
When analyzing the carbon footprint by municipality and taking into account tourism and fuel-related emissions, electricity demand and waste management, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are the islands with the highest carbon footprint, which the technician from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Adela Machado, related to “a lower penetration of renewables in the electrical system”. It is followed by Tenerife and Gran Canaria, whose activity in global terms does account for 78% of emissions -because it has 88% of the business fabric-, but which, in the analysis by municipalities, fare better. Machado also highlighted the carbon footprint of La Palma and La Gomera where there is also “a low penetration of renewables” although there is no large industrial sector.
El Hierro is the island that is best positioned in this greenhouse gas ranking. “The municipalities with the least footprint are those of El Hierro,” said Valbuena, who explained that “it has a lower rate of emissions both per municipality, as an island, and per inhabitant.” El Hierro is the only self-sufficient island where the winds that blow at the Gorona del Viento station have become the main source of energy.
Plans for a zero emissions future
The inventory presented represents one of the first instruments to measure the impact of the Canary Islands and establish measures to combat climate change. It is one of the measures contemplated in the Declaration of Climate Emergency in the Canary Islands, agreed by the regional Executive in August 2019. To carry it out, the adherence of the 88 municipalities of the Canary Islands to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (PACES), because without the information collected by each municipality it would have been practically impossible to “recognize and accurately list the sources of greenhouse gases that exist in the Archipelago”.
With this instrument, as Valbuena acknowledged, the aim is to “measure the impact of its actions to combat global warming and check the progress in terms of decarbonisation, as contemplated in the Canarian Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition”, even in parliamentary procedure and pending approval.
“Having a regional catalog of this type will make it easier to have a comprehensive view of the emissions produced in the Canary Islands”, something that, according to the person in charge of the Area, not only focuses on the information that can be obtained from each municipality, but also It also takes into account key aspects such as the carbon footprint and the impact of ports and airports, the public facilities themselves and even the Tourism sector.
The next step, once the inventory has been created, is to carry out a second balance of the carbon footprint of the Canary Islands in which sand include travel by flights arriving at Canary Islands. A previous study, carried out by the Disaster Risk Reduction Chair of the University of La Laguna (ULL), calculated that international flights are responsible for half of the carbon dioxide emissions in the Canary Islands. In that same study it was estimated that international travel emitted un total of 6.4 million tons of carbon dioxide. “With this work we will be able to estimate what carbon footprint the Canary Islands must absorb to compensate for aviation emissions,” stressed Valbuena, who considered the balance of emissions a better proposal than the “green tax” that the European Union wants to impose. This rate represents an extra tax that would be applied to international flights that arrive in the Archipelago and that has been harshly criticized by the regional government, considering that it could go against the interests of the Islands.
