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Dieses Kapitel befasst sich mit der klimapolitischen Landschaft Spaniens und unterstreicht die bedeutende Rolle der Regionalregierungen bei der Gestaltung der Klimaschutzmaßnahmen des Landes. Darin wird untersucht, wie sich Spaniens Klimapolitik von einer passiven Haltung zu einem aktiveren, wenn auch hinkenden Ansatz entwickelt hat, bei dem sich die Zentralregierung und die Regionalregierungen die Verantwortung teilen. Das Kapitel konzentriert sich auf die Auswirkungen der U2C-Mitgliedschaft auf regionale klimapolitische Bemühungen und untersucht, wie der Zeitpunkt des Beitritts (Gründung, früh oder spät) sowohl anfängliche Verpflichtungen als auch die langfristige politische Entwicklung beeinflusst hat. Es bietet eine vergleichende Analyse verschiedener Regionen, darunter Katalonien, das Baskenland, die Forstgemeinschaft Navarra, Andalusien, die Gemeinschaft Madrid und Galicien, wobei ihre einzigartigen Ansätze und Herausforderungen hervorgehoben werden. Das Kapitel diskutiert auch die verschiedenen Formen der Führung, die diese Regionen an den Tag legen, einschließlich kognitiver, unternehmerischer und beispielhafter Führung. Er schließt mit einer Bewertung der zentralen Thesen, dass Gründungs- und Frühmitglieder transnationaler Organisationen wie U2C den stärksten Reputationsanreizen ausgesetzt sind, die sie veranlassen, ein hohes Maß an klimapolitischer Aktivität an den Tag zu legen und langfristigen Druck zur Aufrechterhaltung und Stärkung dieser Verpflichtungen zu erzeugen.
KI-Generiert
Diese Zusammenfassung des Fachinhalts wurde mit Hilfe von KI generiert.
Abstract
This chapter examines climate policy efforts across six Spanish Autonomous Communities that joined the Under2 Coalition at different timepoints: founding member Catalonia, early joiners Basque Country and Foral Community of Navarre, and later joiners Andalusia, Community of Madrid, and Galicia. Operating within Spain’s multilevel governance system, these regions filled a policy vacuum created by limited national climate action at the national level prior to 2021. Catalonia demonstrates the clearest leadership profile, combining cognitive, entrepreneurial, and exemplary dimensions through pioneering legislation and transnational diplomacy. The Basque Country exhibits strong entrepreneurial orientation through sustained policy-based climate action, while Navarre shows entrepreneurial impulses undermined by implementation deficits. Among later joiners, Andalusia displays cognitive leadership rooted in two decades of strategic planning, Madrid remains comparatively incremental in its approach to climate policy despite economic capacity, and Galicia demonstrates increasing dynamism following strategically timed Under2 Coalition accession during COP 26. The analysis reveals that Under2 Coalition membership reinforced pre-existing leadership among founding and early members through reputational incentives, while its influence on later joiners appears to serve primarily to formalize existing commitments rather than catalyze transformation toward carbon neutrality.
Introduction
Climate policy in Spain operates across multiple levels of government, with responsibilities in areas such as transport, industry, agriculture, and the environment shared between the central administration and the regional governments, also known as Autonomous Communities (Vargas-Amelin & Pindado, 2014). This multilevel structure has proven particularly significant in shaping the country’s climate response.
Spain’s approach to climate policy has evolved from passivity to an active, albeit lagging, stance (Costa, 2011). Until the mid-2010s, it often followed the EU’s ambitious policy guidelines without pursuing more ambitious national-level climate policy (Solorio, 2016). However, beginning in 2018, the country strengthened its commitment by adopting a number of climate policies. The most notable of these was its first national Framework Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition, ratified in 2021 (Law 7/2021) (Rodrigo et al., 2023).
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This delayed national response to climate change created a policy vacuum that some regions moved quickly to fill. In the absence of a general framework prior to 2021, several regions used their decentralized competences to pursue more ambitious climate action than the central administration (Cocciolo, 2020). Most notably, Catalonia adopted Law 16/2017 on climate change, Andalusia enacted Law 8/2018 on measures against climate change and for the transition to a new energy model, and the Balearic Islands passed Law 10/2019 on climate change and energy transition (Camargo et al., 2020).
These climate policy acitivities at the subnational level are also reflected in the participation of Spanish regions in U2C. Catalonia became a founding member in May 2015, followed by the Basque Country and the Foral Community of Navarre as early participants later that year. Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, and Galicia joined subsequently between 2016 and 2021.
Existing literature suggests that subnational climate policy in Spain is often driven by territorial motives, such as bolstering international visibility as “nation-states-in-waiting” (Cornago, 2010)—regions with strong national identities seeking greater autonomy—which extend beyond climate-related objectives in the narrow sense (Conversi & Friis Hau, 2021). This chapter addresses a key gap in understanding: whether and how U2C membership has enhanced regional climate policy effort in Spain, with particular attention to how the timing of joining (founding, early, or late) has influenced both initial commitments and long-term policy development.
Founding Member
Catalonia
Catalonia is Spain’s second-largest regional economy, characterized by a high degree of industrialization and a powerful service sector. The region faces distinctive climate vulnerabilities: its densely populated coastline is highly susceptible to sea-level rise and water scarcity, while its mountainous areas in the Pyrenees are experiencing the impacts of climate change on snow-dependent water resources and tourism.
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These environmental pressures intersect with significant political capacity for action. Catalonia’s constitutional status as a “nationality”—a designation within the Spanish framework that grants extensive self-governing powers—has provided the region with substantial authority to adopt environmental and climate policies. This constitutional autonomy enabled Catalonia to take a pioneering role in pursuing policy-based climate action, exemplified by its adoption of Spain’s first framework law on climate change, enacted before the central state’s Law 7/2021 (Rodríguez Beas, 2019).
However, Catalonia’s approach to climate policy cannot be understood solely through a policy-specific lens. Recent research has linked the development of the climate policy agenda to the region’s demands for greater autonomy, revealing that climate policy serves dual purposes: addressing climate change while simultaneously asserting political distinctiveness vis-à-vis the central government (Enguer & Navarrete, 2025). This intersection of policy-based climate action and territorial politics shapes the complex—and at times contentious—relationship between Catalonia and the central government in Madrid.
Early Joiners
Basque Country
The Basque Country possesses a strong industrial base and ranks among Spain’s most economically developed regions, with an income level among the highest in the country. Located along the Cantabrian Sea, the region faces distinct climate vulnerabilities: coastal threats including sea-level rise and storm surges, as well as increasing urban temperatures inland.
Like Catalonia, the Basque Country holds constitutional recognition as a nationality with substantial autonomy, supported by a well-established regional government and institutional framework capable of designing and implementing climate policies. A pivotal shift in the region’s climate agenda occurred following the 2009 regional elections, when the Socialist Party formed a single-party government (De la Peña, 2013). This marked the first time in over a decade that climate policy was not relegated to junior coalition partners, enabling the development of the region’s first comprehensive sustainable development strategy and signaling a new prioritization of climate action.
As with Catalonia, the Basque Country’s climate policy profile reflects motivations that extend beyond climate concerns. The region’s international commitments to fighting climate change—including its early participation in U2C—have been shaped by domestic political dynamics and aspirations to project the region internationally through identity-driven climate diplomacy (Enguer, 2025). Climate action in the Basque Country thus has been both a strategy for adressing climate change and a vehicle for asserting regional distinctiveness on the international stage.
Foral Community of Navarre
The Foral Community of Navarre is a small but economically advanced region with a diversified industrial base. Key sectors include automotive and pharmaceutical manufacturing, as well as wind-turbine production—reflecting the region’s strength in producing renewable energy. Agriculture and hydroelectric and wind power generation remain important in rural areas. Geographically, Navarre spans a climatic gradient from wet Pyrenean mountains in the north to semi-arid Ebro river valleys in the south, creating divergent climate vulnerabilities: water scarcity and drought in the south, and flood risks in the north.
Navarre’s status as a “Foral Community”—a designation that grants it exceptional fiscal and political autonomy within the Spanish state—has been instrumental for its pioneering role in renewable energy development (López González et al., 2007). This autonomy has also allowed the region to pursue policy-based climate action independently, transitioning from fragmented initiatives toward a more structured governance framework beginning in 2010. However, unlike Catalonia and the Basque Country, Navarre’s climate policy profile has been marked by internal political challenges. Progress has at times been constrained by divergences in political will between the regional executive and legislature, as well as by implementation delays (Alenza, 2023), suggesting that institutional capacity alone does not guarantee consistent climate leadership.
Later Joiners
Andalusia
Andalusia is Spain’s most populous region, with an economy deeply tied to agriculture and tourism. Its climate ranges from Mediterranean to semi-arid, and the region regularly endures extreme heat waves and droughts. Geographically diverse—spanning the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Guadalquivir plain, and extensive Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines—Andalusia faces acute vulnerabilities to water scarcity, desertification, and wildfires.
In recent years, the region’s energy mix has undergone rapid transformation, shifting from historical dependence on fossil fuels toward growing reliance on renewable energy. This transition represents both a response to climate risks and a strategy for economic modernization and diversification, capitalizing on Andalusia’s abundant solar resources to position itself as a leader in Spain’s energy transition (Román-Collado & Colinet Carmona, 2021). Significantly, Andalusia became the second Autonomous Community to adopt a framework law on climate change—following only Catalonia and preceding the central state’s Law 7/2021 by three years (De la Varga, 2022). This proactive stance suggests that the region’s climate policy ambition was driven as much by economic opportunity as by the need to respond to the materialzing impacts of climate change.
Community of Madrid
The Community of Madrid serves as Spain’s economic engine, with the highest economic activities in absolute terms. Unlike other regions presented here, Madrid’s climate challenges stem primarily from its intense urban and metropolitan character. The service-dominated economy makes energy consumption in buildings, transportation, and services the critical focus for climate change mitigation efforts. The region experiences a continentalized Mediterranean climate, and its high population density—concentrated in the capital and surrounding metropolitan area—creates a pronounced urban heat island effect and heightened vulnerability to heat waves.
The region’s wealth and substantial governance capacity enable major climate policy efforts, including building an extensive public transit network, providing EV incentives, and establishing low-emission zones. However, Madrid’s energy profile presents a significant obstacle to deeper decarbonization. Despite recent rapid expansion of solar photovoltaic capacity, the overall share of renewables in Madrid’s energy mix remains among the lowest in Spain, as the region grapples with exceptionally high baseline energy demand from transport and buildings (Alonso et al., 2016; Montoya et al., 2014). This gap between governance capacity and energy transition progress distinguishes Madrid from other regional leaders.
Galicia
Galicia’s economy, historically rooted in agriculture and fishing, is now supported by a diverse industrial base that includes textiles, automotive manufacturing, and a shipbuilding sector increasingly diversifying into offshore wind energy. The region’s Atlantic location creates significant climate vulnerabilities, particularly coastal flooding, erosion, and sea-level rise.
Galicia’s constitutional status as a nationality provides a favorable competency framework for adopting climate policies. This has facilitated a recent renewal of its climate change mitigation goals, marking a departure from an outdated policy framework exemplified by the still-active but obsolete Law 1/1995 on Environmental Protection (Calatayud, 2009). Unlike Madrid, Galicia benefits from an advantageous energy profile: most electricity generation already derives from renewable sources, notably wind and hydropower, placing it above the national average (Castro-Santos & Filgueira-Vizoso, 2023; Simón, 2012). This existing renewable energy foundation provided Galicia with a stronger starting point for ambitious climate policy than many other Spanish regions.
Comparative Analysis
Policies
The Spanish subnational entities increasingly adopted climate policies following their incorporation into U2C (Fig. 6.1). This pattern is particularly pronounced among founding and early members. All climate change framework laws adopted by these regions—Catalonia, the Basque Country, and the Foral Community of Navarre—were enacted after 2015. The Basque Country stands out as the only region to have adopted two such laws, one in 2019 and another in 2024, suggesting sustained climate policy commitment.
Regarding climate plans, the temporal pattern also points toward post-membership intensification, though with some nuance. While Catalonia adopted an equal number of plans before and after signing the U2C MoU (three in each period), both the Basque Country (four plans) and the Foral Community of Navarre (two plans) adopted all their plans after 2015. The single exception—Navarre’s Climate Change Strategy 2010–2020, enacted in 2011—holds limited significance for assessing policy ambition, as it was withdrawn just months after approval, reflecting political disagreement over the level of climate policy effort.
Among later joiners, the relationship between U2C membership and policy adoption is less straightforward. Only Andalusia adopted a climate change framework law, enacted two years after joining U2C. While each of the later joiners has adopted two climate-related plans since membership, the majority of their planning activity preceded their participation: Madrid adopted five plans before joining, Andalusia four, and Galicia three. This suggests that for later joiners, U2C membership may represent recognition of existing climate policy effort rather than a catalyst for new policy development.
Catalonia’s early commitment to climate policy was distinguished by cognitive leadership—deploying ideas and participatory processes to reframe climate action as a cross-sectoral priority. This approach was evident in the 2008 Framework Plan for Climate Change Mitigation, crafted through an extensive participatory process involving 800 individuals and 500 organizations. The plan helped embed a shared vision of climate action as a socioeconomic project rather than a narrow concern to mitigate climate change. Building on this foundation, the 2012–2020 Energy and Climate Change Plan exemplified further cognitive innovation by explicitly subordinating energy policy to climate objectives, marking a significant recalibration of policy priorities.
Parallel to this cognitive dimension, Catalonia displayed entrepreneurial qualities. From joining The Climate Group’s States & Regions network in the 2000s to co-founding U2C in May 2015, Catalonia actively brokered alliances and used diplomacy to amplify its influence beyond its territorial boundaries. Such moves demonstrate the region’s ability to draw attention to its climate policy agenda and build transregional coalitions.
Catalonia’s post-U2C co-founding policy record contains significant elements of exemplary leadership. The sequence of policy outputs—including Law 16/2017 on climate change, the 2019 declaration of a climate emergency, and Decree-Law 16/2019 introducing binding measures to promote renewable energy—shows a willingness to implement innovative measures that other subnational actors can observe and learn from (De la Varga, 2018). The 2023 Energy Outlook further consolidates this long-range vision, positioning Catalonia as a demonstrator of pathways to carbon neutrality by mid-century (Casanova et al., 2023).
Even before officially joining U2C in 2015, the Basque Country had exercised entrepreneurial leadership by strategically negotiating its entry into transnational networks such as ENCORE (1993), NRG4SD (2002), and Climate Group (2010). After 2015, U2C membership offered additional platforms for multilevel and multi-stakeholder dialogues, fostering consensus around ambitious climate action (Orkestra et al., 2021). This sustained participation in transnational networks can be regarded as exemplary leadership, positioning the region as a model of identity-driven environmental diplomacy (Kerr, 2024).
Alongside its transnational engagement, the Basque Country also demonstrated cognitive leadership through the development of influential strategic frameworks. Comprehensive, long-term strategies (KLIMA 2050, Euskadi 2030) and landmark legislation (the Law on Public Administration Energy Sustainability and the Law on Energy Transition and Climate Change) charted a credible path toward decarbonization. More than merely internal roadmaps, these documents articulate an integrated model of sustainable development capable of inspiring the agendas of other subnational governments.
The climate policy path of the Foral Community of Navarre demonstrates a distinct form of entrepreneurial leadership, characterized by diplomatic engagement to build momentum for climate action. This was most evident when the region endorsed the Paris Agreement and joined U2C in 2015, decisions that served to draw attention to its international commitments. This continued with the incorporation of the SDGs in 2016–2017 and the launch of a participatory process for its Climate Change Roadmap (HCCN-KLINa) in 2018, showcasing an effort to broker consensus and propose a structured path forward after earlier political setbacks.
Despite these advances, Navarre’s climate policy profile has been undermined by implementation deficits. Its 2019 climate emergency declaration proved largely symbolic and produced no major new measures, while the Foral Law 4/2022 on Climate Change and Energy Transition deferred most binding actions by two to eight years and failed to meet first-year targets (Alenza, 2023). Consequently, the region’s accession to U2C in 2015 and SDG adoption (2016–2017) appear largely reactive—reflecting alignment with global norms rather than proactive leadership. Navarre thus exemplifies the limits of entrepreneurial diplomacy when divorced from structural implementation capacity.
Andalusia’s climate policy progression reflects a strong cognitive leadership profile, built on two decades of strategic planning and technical consolidation. Beginning with the Andalusian Strategy for Climate Change (2002), followed by the Climate Action Plan (2007) and the parallel Energy Sustainability Plan, and continuing through later iterations such as the Energy Strategy 2020 and Energy Strategy 2030, the region has consistently produced sector-spanning frameworks. These policy outputs demonstrate sustained capacity to generate evidence-based roadmaps shaping decisions across land use, transport, waste, agriculture, industry, and the energy system.
This cognitive core has been complemented by entrepreneurial outreach. Andalusia’s accession to U2C in September 2016 and its alignment with EU and Paris-consistent approaches to policy-based climate action highlight outward-facing diplomacy designed to stimulate policy learning and lend legitimacy to domestic measures. There are also elements of exemplary leadership—most notably the region’s legislative framework (Law 8/2018) and the 2021–2030 Andalusian Climate Action Plan—which position Andalusia as a potential demonstrator of integrated mitigation and energy transition pathways.
The Community of Madrid’s climate policy profile is defined less by transformative shifts than by a persistent, energy-centered approach built through successive, technically detailed plans. Beginning with the Energy Plan 2004–2012 and continuing through the Energy Plan 2016–2020 and targeted measures such as the Energy Saving and Efficiency Plan for Public Buildings (2017, updated 2022), the region consistently emphasized energy diversification, efficiency, and renewables. Parallel roadmaps—the Blue Plan+ (2013–2020) and its 2016 review, the Decarbonization and Environmental Protection Plan 2021–2024, and the integrated Energy, Climate and Air Strategy 2023–2030—illustrate an incremental layering of measures across air quality, transport, buildings, industry, and natural systems.
This trajectory reflects primarily structural leadership: Madrid’s strength lies in its capacity for technical planning and policy design, generating credible roadmaps and public sector measures that structure regional decision-making. However, Madrid lacks the exemplary dimension seen in earlier-joining regions, with its policy approach remaining largely technocratic rather than pioneering.
Galicia’s climate policy profile demonstrates pronounced cognitive leadership that has been progressively reinforced by entrepreneurial and structural approaches since 2018. The region’s foundational Galician Energy Guidelines 2018–2020 established early cognitive reframing by linking renewable energy development to job creation, positioning decarbonization as a socioeconomic opportunity. This cognitive foundation expanded with the Galician Climate Change and Energy Strategy 2050 (2019), which embedded climate action within broader regional development goals (Pérez et al., 2022).
By strategically timing its U2C accession during COP26, Galicia exhibited entrepreneurial skill, leveraging global visibility to accelerate domestic reform. Concurrently, the implementation of binding measures through the Integrated Regional Plans (2019–2023 and 2030) reflects growing structural leadership. What most clearly distinguishes Galicia is the mutually reinforcing dynamic between its cognitive reframing and entrepreneurial networking—a combination that has enabled the region to transition from policy planning to meaningful implementation.
Policy Instruments
Spain’s U2C members implemented a diverse set of climate policy instruments through various laws and plans over the past decade (Fig. 6.2). However, unlike the clear temporal pattern observed in policy adoption dates, the distinction between founding, early, and late U2C members is less clear when examining the variety and timing of policy instruments.
Fig. 6.2
Policy instruments to reduce regional GHG emissions
The regions deploying the most varied policy instruments are the Foral Community of Navarre (8 types), the Community of Madrid (7), and Catalonia (6). Notably, the founding and early members among these began implementing measures considerably earlier than Madrid. While Madrid only initiated its portfolio of instruments in 2023, Catalonia introduced its first climate tax in 2010, followed by public procurement, standards, bans, and information and training measures in 2017. That same year, Navarre also adopted taxes, public procurement, and standards, demonstrating early experimentation with binding measures.
A second tier comprises two later joiners—Andalusia and Galicia—alongside one early member, the Basque Country. Interestingly, the Basque Country has been the least active, deploying only three instrument types despite its early U2C membership. Equally notable is that Andalusia was the earliest of all six regions to implement climate policy instruments, introducing standards, certifications and labels, and information and training as far back as 2007—eight years before joining U2C and nine years before Catalonia adopted its framework law.
The temporal relationship between U2C membership and instrument adoption differs markedly between cohorts. With few exceptions—such as a voluntary agreement in the Basque Country and a tax in Catalonia—founding and early members adopted most of their instruments after joining U2C, suggesting the coalition may have catalyzed diversification of their policy toolkits. The opposite pattern characterizes later joiners: both Andalusia and Galicia already had multiple policy instruments in place before accession, while Madrid compressed its entire instrument portfolio into a single year (2023) after joining. This suggests that for later members, U2C accession may represent formalization or international recognition of existing domestic efforts rather than a stimulus for new action.
Catalonia emerged as an early adopter of fiscal instruments, introducing climate taxes as early as 2010. Following its U2C co-founding in 2015, the region significantly expanded its policy toolkit from 2016 onward, incorporating a broader suite of regulatory and support measures including standards, public procurement, bans, and training programs. This diversification suggests that U2C membership may have encouraged experimentation beyond the fiscal measures Catalonia had already pioneered.
Similarly, the Basque Country’s initial approach centered on voluntary agreements (circa 2010–2012), but its U2C membership coincided with a gradual shift toward fiscal and regulatory instruments around 2020–2022. The Foral Community of Navarre, having joined the coalition in 2015, began consistently deploying a comprehensive mix of economic, regulatory, and voluntary instruments from the late 2010s onward. For both regions, the timing suggests U2C participation may have reinforced a transition toward more binding policy approaches.
Andalusia’s strategy began with “soft” instruments such as standards, certifications, and training initiatives (circa 2007–2010), predating its climate framework law and U2C membership by nearly a decade. After joining U2C in 2016, it incorporated additional instruments including public procurement and voluntary agreements in the mid-to-late 2010s, though the incremental nature of this expansion suggests continuity rather than transformation.
The Community of Madrid demonstrates a markedly different pattern. Despite joining U2C in 2019, concentrated deployment of multiple instruments occurred only much later, peaking in the 2022–2024 period with a sudden proliferation of subsidies, public procurement, standards, bans, certifications and labels, voluntary agreements, and training programs. This delayed, compressed adoption suggests factors other than U2C membership—perhaps political shifts or EU-level pressures—drove Madrid’s policy intensification.
Galicia’s trajectory shows a later but concentrated adoption of instruments, mostly around 2019–2021, a period that directly overlaps with and immediately follows its U2C accession in 2021. This temporal alignment is among the strongest observed across Spanish regions, suggesting that for Galicia, coalition membership may have served as a catalyst for rapid policy instrument diversification.
Targets
The Spanish regions examined in this study established GHG emissions reduction targets across different timeframes through a combination of policy plans and laws, implemented both before and after their U2C accession (Fig. 6.3). Comparative assessment demonstrates that founding and early U2C members implemented a greater total number of GHG emissions reduction targets compared to later joiners. While the number of medium-term targets is identical across cohorts, differences in short- and long-term targets clearly distinguish the founding and early members as more ambitious.
Specifically, Catalonia, the Basque Country, and the Foral Community of Navarre have each adopted two short-term emissions targets, matching Andalusia (two targets) and surpassing Galicia (one target) and the Community of Madrid (which has yet to adopt any short-term target). All six regionsadopted two medium-term targets, indicating parity on this dimension. However, the contrast becomes most pronounced in long-term targets: all founding and early members adopted two distinct long-term GHG emissions reduction targets, while among later joiners, only Galicia matches this level of ambition. Andalusia adopted one long-term target, while Madrid adopted none.
The temporal relationship between U2C membership and target adoption reveals divergent patterns across cohorts. Notably, Andalusia set the earliest short- and medium-term targets in the dataset, dating back to 2007—nine years before joining U2C—highlighting its pioneering role in GHG emissions reduction planning despite its late accession to the coalition. Similarly, Catalonia established its initial short- and medium-term targets before U2C was created in 2015. However, all subsequent GHG emissions reduction targets adopted by Catalonia and the other founding and early members came after their entry into U2C, suggesting the coalition may have reinforced target-setting ambition and encouraged adoption of long-term horizons.
Later joiners display a more varied pattern that suggests U2C membership played a less catalytic role. Andalusia adopted three targets before joining and only one afterward, indicating continuity with its pre-existing policy profile. The Community of Madrid adopted one target before and one after membership, showing minimal intensification. Only Galicia presents a pattern consistent with U2C influence, having adopted one target prior to joining and two afterward—both of them long-term targets that align with the coalition’s emphasis on mid-century decarbonization pathways. This suggests that for most later joiners, U2C accession formalized rather than transformed existing target-setting practices.
Catalonia first set a 2050 net-zero GHG emissions target in Law 16/2017, though this was later annulled by constitutional challenges from the central government. Despite this setback, its early U2C engagement (2015) appears to have supported renewed ambition over time, leading to the adoption of a 29% GHG reduction target for 2030 in 2025. This trajectory illustrates both the constraints of multilevel governance conflicts and the resilience of subnational climate ambition.
The Basque Country’s GHG trajectory evolved substantially over time, shifting from a 14% emissions cap above 1990 levels (2008–2012) to legally binding net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. Interim targets also tightened, progressing from a 40% reduction by 2030 (2015) to 45% by 2030 in subsequent legislation. This escalating ambition coincides with the region’s U2C membership and sustained participation in transnational climate networks.
The Foral Community of Navarre’s GHG emissions reduction framework surged from a 45% reduction target by 2030 (2017) to 55% by 2030, with carbon neutrality advanced to 2040. This represents one of the most ambitious target-setting trajectories among Spanish regions, though as noted earlier, implementation challenges have undermined the credibility of these commitments.
Among later joiners, Andalusia’s GHG emissions reduction target jumped dramatically from 18% by 2030 (2018) to 55% by 2030 (2022), aligning the region with the requirements stipulated by EU law following its U2C accession. The Community of Madrid’s targets remained notably more incremental—rising from only 20% reduction by 2020 to 23% by 2030—reflecting the region’s comparatively modest climate ambition despite its economic capacity and late U2C membership.
Galicia’s GHG emissions reduction ambition increased most significantly of all regions examined, escalating from a 24.6% reduction by 2030 (2019) to 75% by 2030 (2025). Its carbon neutrality target advanced from 2050 (2022) to 2040 (2025), making it among the most ambitious Spanish regions. This occurred during and immediately after its U2C accession in 2021, suggesting the coalition may have provided both legitimacy and impetus for strengthening the regional government’s commitment to climate action.
Leadership
The six Spanish Autonomous Communities that are U2C members present a remarkably uneven but analytically coherent map of subnational climate leadership. Catalonia represents the clearest and most sustained leadership profile. Its cognitive leadership has been evident since the late 2000s, when climate policy was reframed as a cross-sectoral socioeconomic project. This image of climate policy was steadily reinforced by entrepreneurial diplomacy—joining international networks, co-founding U2C, and actively extending its influence beyond regional borders. Exemplary leadership emerged through pioneering policies such as Law 16/2017, which initially set a net-zero target for GHG emissions to be reached by 2050. Though this law was annulled by constitutional challenge, Catalonia’s ambition persisted, leading to a 29% reduction target for 2030 (2025), demonstrating sustained commitment shaped by its early U2C engagement.
The Basque Country also demonstrates multidimensional leadership, though with a somewhat different balance. Its strong entrepreneurial orientation was expressed through decades of active participation in transnational networks, long before its entry into U2C as an early member in 2015. This external engagement was matched internally by cognitive leadership, visible in long-range strategies like KLIMA 2050, which combined decarbonization with a wider sustainable development model. The evolution of its GHG emissions reduction targets—moving from an early emissions cap above 1990 levels to a legally binding net-zero target, with interim 2030 targets tightening from 40% to 45% GHG emissions reductions—further reflects its leadership aspirations in ambitious target-setting. Additionally, the Basque Country’s transition from voluntary agreements to regulatory and fiscal tools demonstrates exemplary leadership in the development of climate policy instruments.
The Foral Community of Navarre presents a less consistent profile. Its entrepreneurial impulses have been clear in symbolic acts such as endorsing the Paris Agreement, joining U2C in 2015, and launching participatory processes to craft strategic roadmaps. This diplomatic activism is reflected in a significant surge in GHG emissions reduction ambition, from a 45% reduction by 2030 (2017) to 55% (2022) and carbon neutrality by 2040. Yet Navarre’s record of climate policy implementation has been uneven, with delayed or under-delivered commitments undermining the credibility of these targets. While Navarre has experimented broadly with policy instruments—deploying the most diverse toolkit among all Spanish regions examined—deficits in follow-through suggest that its leadership often leaned toward reactive alignment with global norms rather than proactive innovation.
Andalusia reflects a distinctive cognitive leadership, rooted in two decades of comprehensive planning that consistently integrated climate concerns across economic sectors. It set the earliest short- and medium-term GHG emissions reduction targets in the group, dating back to 2007—nine years before joining U2C. Its strategies and action plans reveal sustained capacity to generate technical knowledge and policy frameworks, culminating in a notable jump in its GHG target from 18% (2018) to 55% by 2030 (2022). Complementary entrepreneurial leadership traits are visible in its engagement with U2C in 2016 and alignment with EU requirements, while exemplary leadership emerges in legislative milestones such as Law 8/2018. For Andalusia, U2C membership appears to have formalized and amplified pre-existing climate commitments rather than catalyzed new directions.
The Community of Madrid has primarily relied on structural leadership, expressed through administrative capacity to develop successive energy-focused plans and roadmaps. These have been characterized by technical expertise but have generally lacked ambitious reframing or outward-facing entrepreneurship, as reflected in Madrid’s incremental GHG emissions reduction targets—rising from only 20% by 2020 to 23% by 2030. Madrid’s climate policy profile has remained comparatively modest in scope and ambition, suggesting that being a country’s capital region and possessing economic and administrative capacity alone does not translate into strong climate policy leadership.
Galicia, by contrast, has shown increasingly dynamic climate policy development since 2018. Cognitive reframing positioned decarbonization as an engine of socioeconomic development, while entrepreneurial leadership was displayed in its strategically timed U2C accession during COP26. The region’s leadership has grown through the adoption of binding plans and a dramatic increase in its ambition for reducing GHG emissions, from a 24.6% reduction by 2030 (2019) to 75% (2025), while committing itself to achieving carbon neutrality in 2040 instead of 2050. Galicia’s trajectory suggests that late entry into transnational coalitions such as U2C need not preclude strong leadership, provided sufficient capacity, favorable energy profiles, and strategic political timing align.
Conclusion
Spain’s climate policy at the national level has evolved from merely implementing EU requirements to actively developing its own approach (Costa, 2011; Solorio, 2016). This policy shift at the central level—most visibly embodied in the adoption of Law 7/2021—occurred rather late and now interacts with a situation in which Spanish regions have developed their own climate policy approaches, largely in response to the absence of ambitious national climate policy.
Against this backdrop, we examined the various forms of leadership displayed by one Spanish founding member of U2C (Catalonia), two early members (the Basque Country and the Foral Community of Navarre), and three regions that joined later (the Community of Madrid, Andalusia, and Galicia). We traced the evolution of policy-based climate action in these territories both before and after joining the coalition. In doing so, we assessed the book’s two central propositions (see Chap. 2): that founding and early members of transnational organizations such as U2C face the strongest reputational incentives, which induce them to demonstrate elevate levels of climate policy activity and create long-term pressures to sustain and enhance those commitments.
U2C membership has indeed often reinforced pre-existing leadership among Spain’s founding and early member regions. Catalonia exemplifies this pattern, leveraging its founding status to amplify cognitive and entrepreneurial leadership, subsequently adopting pioneering policies that served an exemplary function for other Spanish regions. Similarly, the Basque Country used its early U2C membership to pursue identity-driven climate policy efforts. Even the Foral Community of Navarre, despite significant policy implementation deficits, utilized its 2015 U2C accession to generate entrepreneurial momentum, aligning itself with global norms and substantially increasing its stated GHG emissions reduction ambitions—though credibility gaps remained.
In contrast, the climate policy profiles of U2C later joiners are more varied. Andalusia had established strong cognitive leadership through strategic planning years before joining U2C in 2016, with climate targets dating back to 2007. U2C membership served primarily to complement and lend external legitimacy to its region-specific approach to climate action rather than to develop new directions for climate policy. The Community of Madrid’s late accession and its subsequent concentrated adoption of policy instruments in 2023 reflect modest ambition despite the region’s high-profile status as the country’s capital and its economic and administrative capacity. Galicia, meanwhile, presents a more complex case: by coupling strategically timed accession at COP26 with growing cognitive capacity and favorable renewable energy endowments, it converted late entry into elevated climate policy ambition.
In summary, U2C founding and early members have consistently demonstrated higher climate policy effort in both the short and long term. However, this relationship is conditional on favorable regional conditions such as the capacity to produce renewable energy. Policy implementation shortfalls as in Navarre demonstrate that reputational incentives do not automatically translate into policy delivery, while the offsetting effects of institutional capacity, favorable energy profiles, and strategic timing (as in Galicia) show that later joiners can achieve high ambition.
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