The Cabildos of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura have made a common front through a joint manifesto to show their frontal rejection of the Renewable Acceleration Zones (RAZ) model promoted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands. Both island presidents, Oswaldo Betancort and Lola García, denounce that this accelerated implementation system of large energy infrastructures on rural land is incompatible with the identity and development model of the two Biosphere Reserves. In their writing, the institutions demand that the Parliament of the Canary Islands restore the mandatory nature of environmental assessments —eliminated by decree in January 2026— and defend that the energy transition must prioritize the roofs of existing buildings before sacrificing the island territory and landscape.
Manifesto:
The Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Cabildo of Fuerteventura frontally reject the model of Renewable Acceleration Zones (RAZ) and demand an energy transition compatible with the protection of the island territory.
Given the public debate arisen in both islands in relation to the so-called Renewable Acceleration Zones (ZAR), promoted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura wish to convey to public opinion their firm and shared position in defense of the territory, of the landscape and of an energy transition model adapted to the uniqueness of both islands.
The initial publication of the delimitation maps of these zones has generated growing social concern in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, as perceived by broad sectors of the citizenry as an approach that could favor an accelerated implementation of large energy facilities on rural land, with direct impacts on the landscape, the territory, and the island development model.
Both island councils consider that the philosophy that inspires the ZARs —based on administrative acceleration for the implementation of large energy projects— is incompatible with the territorial, environmental, and landscape reality of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, two islands that historically have built their identity and their development model on the preservation of their landscape, their natural heritage, and their territorial balance.
Lanzarote and Fuerteventura share a deeply rooted environmental awareness, the result of decades of public policies and social commitment aimed at protecting the territory. In the case of Lanzarote, internationally recognized as a Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve, the landscape constitutes not only an environmental value, but also a cultural, economic, and social value that has been carefully preserved for generations. Fuerteventura, for its part, also declared a Fuerteventura Biosphere Reserve, has likewise built its development around respect for its territory and its natural values.
Therefore, both island councils consider that any policy for the implementation of renewable energies on the islands must start from a fundamental principle: the energy transition cannot be carried out at the expense of the degradation of the territory nor of the island landscape.
Likewise, they recall that the current autonomous regulatory framework already clearly establishes the prioritization of the implementation of renewable energies on roofs and existing buildings. In particular, Law 11/1997 on the Regulation of the Canary Islands Electricity Sector, in its current wording after the Consolidated Text published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands no. 123 of June 25, 2024, incorporates the obligation to install photovoltaic systems on roofs of new buildings or those undergoing comprehensive renovation, as well as the express promotion of their implementation in already existing buildings.
Similarly, Law 6/2022 on climate change and energy transition of the Canary Islands establishes as a fundamental principle the prioritization of renewable energies in existing buildings and infrastructures as a central axis of the energy transition in the archipelago.
In this regard, the Councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura consider it essential that, before proposing the occupation of land for energy facilities, objective and rigorous studies be carried out that determine the real potential for the implementation of renewable energies on existing roofs and infrastructures, as well as the current degree of utilization of said surfaces on both islands.
Likewise, both island institutions defend that any energy development that eventually must be implemented on land must be carried out under extremely restrictive criteria for the protection of the landscape and the territory, also prioritizing public ownership models or formulas that guarantee that the economic benefits derived from energy production remain in the islands and revert directly to the island society.
Likewise, the two councils express their deep concern over the decision adopted by the Government of the Canary Islands through a decree approved in January 2026, by which the environmental assessment was eliminated for certain renewable energy projects located in Renewable Acceleration Zones.
Both institutions consider that suppressing environmental evaluation in island territories with high landscape and environmental sensitivity constitutes a serious setback in the guarantees of territory protection. For this reason, the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Cabildo of Fuerteventura formally request the Parliament of the Canary Islands to restore the mandatory nature of environmental evaluation for all renewable energy projects intended to be implemented in Renewable Acceleration Zones, thus ensuring that any action is analyzed with the technical and environmental rigor required by the protection of the island territory.
Similarly, both island councils consider it essential that the island institutions fully recover their decision-making capacity in the energy planning of the territory. In this regard, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura clearly and emphatically defend that the island councils have the final say in the territorial authorization of any renewable energy project that intends to be implemented in their respective islands, in coherence with their competencies in matters of territorial planning, landscape, and island planning.
No administrative acceleration policy can be placed above the protection of the territory nor the decision-making capacity of the island institutions, who are those who directly know the territorial, social, and environmental reality of each island.
The Councils of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura reiterate their unequivocal commitment to the energy transition and to the development of renewable energies, but insist that said transition must be carried out with absolute respect for the territory, for island planning, and for the will of the citizenry.
For all this, both institutions request the Government of the Canary Islands the opening of a process of reflection, institutional dialogue and joint planning that allows designing an energy model adapted to the territorial reality of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, ensuring that the fight against climate change develops in a way compatible with the preservation of the landscape, which constitutes one of the main heritages of both islands.
Lanzarote and Fuerteventura thus reiterate their position: yes to renewable energies, but not at the expense of the territory.
