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Spain Registers Hottest Spring Temperatures on Record

A woman using a fan to cool-off walks past a man lying in the shade in Seville on April 26, 2023 as Spain is bracing for an early heat wave. (AFP)
A woman using a fan to cool-off walks past a man lying in the shade in Seville on April 26, 2023 as Spain is bracing for an early heat wave. (AFP)
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Spain Registers Hottest Spring Temperatures on Record

A woman using a fan to cool-off walks past a man lying in the shade in Seville on April 26, 2023 as Spain is bracing for an early heat wave. (AFP)
A woman using a fan to cool-off walks past a man lying in the shade in Seville on April 26, 2023 as Spain is bracing for an early heat wave. (AFP)

Spain registered its hottest spring on record this year, and its second driest ever, the state meteorological agency said Wednesday.

Rubén Del Campo, spokesman for the Aemet weather agency, said the latest data showed a continuation of the extremely high temperatures the country suffered in 2022, which was the hottest year ever recorded in Spain.

The spring heat was accompanied by a scarcity of rain that will exacerbate Spain's long-term drought, despite some rainfall over the last month. Spain's Ecological Transition Ministry reported Tuesday that the country's reservoirs are at 47.4% of their capacity, consolidating a downward trend.

Del Campo noted knock-on effects for the Mediterranean country's ecosystem. “Surface water temperatures recorded in 2022 were the highest since at least 1940,” he told a press conference, warning that the phenomenon endangered marine life and its ability to reproduce.

The situation inland was also made much more precarious. “These high temperatures have repercussions on both human health and ecosystems in terms of increased likelihood of forest fires,” the spokesman added.

Del Campo also issued predictions for the summer ahead, which he said would likely be “extremely hot,” though with a probability of some rainstorms. The Aemet spokesman said it was not clear that the El Niño weather phenomenon would contribute to the expected high temperatures in Spain. El Niño is a cyclical warming of the world's oceans and weather, which is forecast to return later this year.

The Spanish government announced 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) worth of drought response measures last month, including funding for urban water reuse and further aid for struggling farmers.

Spain is Europe’s leading producer and exporter of fresh fruit and vegetables. The country requested emergency funds from the European Union in April given the dire prognosis for this year’s crops.

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‘More and Faster’: UN Calls to Shrink Buildings’ Carbon Footprint

Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘More and Faster’: UN Calls to Shrink Buildings’ Carbon Footprint

Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Snow capped mountains are seen behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline, California, US, March 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Countries must move rapidly to slash CO2 emissions from homes, offices, shops and other buildings -- a sector that accounts for a third of global greenhouse gas pollution, the United Nations said Monday.

Carbon dioxide emissions from the building sector rose around five percent in the last decade when they should have fallen 28 percent, according to a new report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

It said emissions had plateaued since 2023 as climate policies began to have an impact, particularly green building standards, the use of renewable energy and electrified heating and cooling.

But the building sector still consumes 32 percent of the world's energy and contributes 34 percent of CO2 emissions, the report found.

"The buildings where we work, shop and live account for a third of global emissions and a third of global waste," said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

"The good news is that government actions are working. But we must do more and do it faster."

She called on nations to include targets to "rapidly cut emissions from buildings and construction" in their climate plans.

The report said that while most of the countries that signed up to the 2015 Paris climate deal -- nearly 200 have signed -- mention the sector, so far only 19 countries have sufficiently detailed goals in their national carbon cutting plans.

The report said that as of 2023, important metrics like energy-related emissions and the adoption of renewable energy "remain well below required progress rates".

That means that countries, businesses and homeowners now need to dramatically pick up the pace to meet the 2030 emissions reduction targets.

- 'Critical challenge' -

Direct and indirect CO2 emissions will now need to fall more than 10 percent per year, more than double the originally envisaged pace.

The rollout of renewables is a similar story.

The share of renewables like solar and wind in final energy consumption rose by only 4.5 percentage points since 2015, well behind the goal of nearly 18 percentage points.

That now needs to accelerate by a factor of seven to meet this decade's goal of tripling renewable energy use worldwide, UNEP said.

The report urged countries to accelerate the roll-out of renewable technologies and increase the share of renewables in the final energy mix to 46 percent by 2030 -- a rise of around 18 percent.

It also called on policymakers to increase energy efficiency retrofits to include better design, insulation and the use of renewables and heat pumps.

More work also needs to be done to improve the sustainability of materials like steel and cement, whose manufacture accounts for nearly a fifth of all emissions from the building sector.

But the report did say that circular construction practices were increasing in some areas, with recycled materials accounting for 18 percent of construction inputs in Europe.

The authors urged all major greenhouse gas emitters to take action by introducing zero-carbon building energy codes by 2028, and called on other countries to create and tighten their regulations within the next 10 years.

The report highlighted positive national policies from China, France, Germany, Mexico and South Africa among others.

But it said financing remained a "critical challenge".

In 2023, it found that global investment in energy efficiency in buildings fell seven percent from a year earlier to $270 billion, driven by higher borrowing costs and the winding back of government support programs, notably in Europe.

Those investments now need to double -- to $522 billion -- by 2030, it said.