MADRID, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- In one of its last meetings before the scheduled Apr. 28 general elections, the Spanish government on Friday approved the draft of a future law on climate change and energy transition.
The law aims to make the Spanish economy carbon neutral by 2050.
Teresa Ribera, minister for ecological transition, told reporters after the cabinet meeting that the law constitutes one of the pillars of Spain's energy and climate change strategy.
It aims to "help the modernization of the economy and provide employment in sectors where we have great potential. In the future it will place us in a position to guarantee fairness and equality," she said.
The main objectives of the law are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent below 1990 levels and to generate 74 percent of Spain's electricity and 42 percent of its total energy needs from renewable sources.
The minister described the plan as "ambitious, balanced, modernizing and fully possible" to carry out, adding that it is in line with the 2016 Paris Agreement on climate change and that it would have "positive" effects in rural areas, on the environment and in the areas of health and social justice.
The Spanish government expects the plan to create between 250,000 and 364,000 new jobs, with between 102,000 and 182,000 in the renewable energy sector, and to mobilize around 236 billion euros (267.7 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030, 80 percent of which is projected to come from the private sector.
Meanwhile, all new vehicles will have to be zero CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions by 2040, with a billion euros set aside to promote the introduction of electric vehicles between 2021 and 2025.
