Our archipelago already has a Canary Island Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition, thus realizing one of the main commitments acquired by the PSOE and President Ángel Víctor Torres at the beginning of the legislature. After the support given by the Parliament of the Canary Islands, from now on we will be able to face with guarantees the threat of global warming and climate change that looms over the islands, addressing at the same time the urgent energy transition towards the full decarbonization of the economy in the shortest possible time.
Like the rest of the islands, Lanzarote already has the framework that will allow us to face a change in the productive model oriented towards ecological transition, by establishing specific objectives and tasks for public authorities and private initiative. Therefore, from this moment on, no one can evade their responsibilities in order to guarantee a neutral balance of greenhouse gas emissions in 2040. The way to do this can be none other than through permanent dialogue and close cooperation between the public sector and private companies.
"We are going to live up to the magnitude of the challenge"
We must put all our energy into the progressive reduction of the use and consumption of fossil fuels, as well as the establishment of an energy model based on demand management and renewable energies. This is the path that is marked in the new regulation and that leads us to mitigate the effects of climate change to minimize its effects on people and their assets, natural resources, public and private infrastructures and terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems. Some effects that will be more noticeable in the eastern islands, which is why they require us to act decisively and quickly.
From this precise moment, the fight against climate change is at the center of political action for the Government of the Canary Islands, the island councils and the town councils. This means an enormous challenge, since we have to radically modify our way of producing and consuming, but, at the same time, it means a unique opportunity to transform and modernize the Canary Islands. But let's not lose sight of the fact that what moves us is to achieve a more sustainable society in social, economic and environmental terms, a more just, egalitarian and inclusive society.
The islands that, like Lanzarote, depend exclusively on tourism have a profound reconversion of our development model ahead of us. The destination must be exemplary in the field of sustainable development, both for the population of Lanzarote and for those who visit us, so the management of the environment and the landscape, as well as the spaces and natural resources must be placed at levels of excellence.
This challenge summons all of us, and I am completely sure that we are going to live up to the magnitude of the challenge.
María Dolores Corujo Berriel, president of the Cabildo de Lanzarote and deputy of the PSOE in the Parliament of the Canary Islands for the island of Lanzarote.
