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• Performance assessments quantify either abatement (AC) or transaction costs (TC). • We develop tools to quantify both AC and TC. • Socio-hydrology modeling of interconnected human and water systems is used to measure AC. • We develop a cutting-edge longitudinal dataset to assess future directions and magnitude of TC. • Results in the Douro Basin (Spain) show TC can represent 5.7 % − 8.3 % of total costs (AC + TC). • This highlights the need to account for AC and TC in performance assessments. Water reallocations have costs to the users of water, or abatement costs (e.g., charges designed to marginally increase environmental water flows), but also nontrivial institutional transaction costs (e.g., costs incurred to develop institutions and organizations to support and enforce environmental reallocations). However, institutional transaction costs studies are very limited and those available do not integrate abatement costs measurements, which constrains our ability to assess the performance of water reallocation. This paper presents the first integrated analysis of abatement and transaction costs of water reallocation. The analysis is illustrated with an application to the Douro River Basin, an agricultural basin in central Spain that has recently finished its second planning cycle (2015–2021). First, we use a hydroeconomic model that accounts for the two-way feedback responses between human and water systems to estimate the abatement costs of water reallocations, as well as their effectiveness in achieving the good ecological status of water bodies. Second, we measure and monetize realized institutional transaction costs of river basin planning over time and build on this cutting-edge longitudinal dataset to assess future directions and magnitude of transaction costs. We use this information to assess and rank the performance (through cost-effectiveness) of the water reallocations considered in the latest Douro River Basin Plan under alternative climate change scenarios. We find that under the hypothesis of stationary transaction costs, these can represent between 5.7% and 8.3% of the total reallocation costs (abatement plus transaction costs). This non-trivial magnitude highlights the need to account for both abatement and transaction costs when assessing the performance of water reallocations, and environmental policy overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of human-derived waste on our coasts is an escalating phenomenon, yet the relative importance and potential interactions among its main drivers are not fully understood. We used citizen-science standardized collections to investigate how anthropogenic and environmental factors influence the level, composition, and temporal variation of beach debris. An average of 58 kg and 803 items/100 m, dominated by single-use items of land (rather than sea) origin, were collected in the 881 beaches sampled. Interactions between anthropogenic and environmental factors (e.g., human use × beach substrate) were the strongest predictors of beach debris, accounting for 34% of the variance explained in its amount and composition. Beach debris showed a highly stochastic temporal variation (adjusted R2 = 0.05), partly determined by interactions between different local and landscape anthropogenic pressures. Our results show that both environmental and anthropogenic factors (at the local and landscape scale) co-determine the level and composition of beach debris. We emphasize the potential of citizen-science to inform environmental policy, showing that land-originated single-use items dominate beach debris, and the importance of considering their multiple anthropogenic and environmental drivers to improve our low predictive power regarding their spatio-temporal distribution. [Display omitted] • Citizen science provided 881 collections from beaches in Spain during 10 years. • Land-originated single-use items dominate beach debris. • Environmental and anthropogenic factors co-determined beach debris composition. • Temporal variation is large and influenced by anthropogenic pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While economic and environmental policies and strategies are largely designed at the international, national or regional level, the environmental impacts of these measures are often felt at a more geographically-localized level. In particular, the effects on water resources, especially regarding water pollution and water stress, are usually localized in very specific hotspots. In this work, we acknowledge these facts and attempt to identify the linkages among the 17 regions in Spain (a semi-arid country with significant geographical variations in water availability), the European Union (EU), and the Rest of the World (RW), while also looking at the local effects of those interactions. In particular, we study the grey water footprints (a measure of the assimilation capacity of water resources) of production, at both the regional and business level, with spatially explicit information, and the extension of those footprints throughout the supply chain, while also computing the water footprints of consumption at the regional level. This process is a combination of a detailed computation of grey water footprints from production, from agriculture (from diffuse pollution), and from more general economic activities (from point source pollution), with a multiregional input–output model that encompasses the 17 Spanish Regions, the EU, and the RW. We also identify hotspots and vulnerable areas, linking the grey water footprints from production originating in these areas to final-consumer responsibilities. As an example of the potential of the combined methodology, we design and evaluate the effects on grey water footprints of scenarios of import substitutions in Spain. Our results show strong final demand in regions such as Madrid and Catalonia, and in net exporting regions such as Andalusia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, and Navarre. Some of these regions contain areas that are clearly vulnerable to nitrates and other pollutants, and parts of these regions, most obviously in Andalusia and Extremadura, suffer water stress, which leads us to question the sustainability of the relationships between the structure of production and trade and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to its strategic nature, the Spanish energy policy is primarily the responsibility of the central state. In spite of this, the Spanish legal code does in fact also confer certain powers to territorial governments in Spain, the Autonomous Communities. The objective of this work is specifically to investigate the differences between the energy performance of Spanish regions, which may be a consequence of specific features of their productive structures and resource endowments, in addition to the specific decisions adopted by each of them within the scope for action that they have in this area. With this aim in mind, we intend to calculate the inefficiency levels of Spanish regions as regards their use of various energy sources during the period 2003–2008, by estimating an environmental directional distance function. The results obtained confirm the existence of significant differences in the behaviour and evolution of regional energy efficiency and point to the need to pay more attention to energy planning in this territorial sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effects of policy making for air pollution abatement in Spain between 2000 and 2020 under an integrated assessment approach with the AERIS model for number of pollutants (NO x /NO 2 , PM 10 /PM 2.5 , O 3 , SO 2 , NH 3 and VOC). The analysis of the effects of air pollution focused on different aspects: compliance with the European limit values of Directive 2008/50/EC for NO 2 and PM 10 for the Spanish air quality management areas; the evaluation of impacts caused by the deposition of atmospheric sulphur and nitrogen on ecosystems; the exceedance of critical levels of NO 2 and SO 2 in forest areas; the analysis of O 3 -induced crop damage for grapes, maize, potato, rice, tobacco, tomato, watermelon and wheat; health impacts caused by human exposure to O 3 and PM 2.5 ; and costs on society due to crop losses (O 3 ), disability-related absence of work staff and damage to buildings and public property due to soot-related soiling (PM 2.5 ). In general, air quality policy making has delivered improvements in air quality levels throughout Spain and has mitigated the severity of the impacts on ecosystems, health and vegetation in 2020 as target year. The findings of this work constitute an appropriate diagnosis for identifying improvement potentials for further mitigation for policy makers and stakeholders in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decade, the Spanish cement production industry has experienced constant technological updates. Nevertheless, meeting current and future environmental policy goals requires extra efforts. The Spanish case is significant because cement production went down dramatically due to the last economic crisis. This brought an important, but temporary, reduction of CO 2 emissions. Therefore, there is an interesting opportunity for cement producers and policymakers to adjust the long-term targets. This work discusses the evolution of the cement industry in Spain from a realistic point of view using recent cement demand projections and the TIMES-Spain energy optimisation model. Several environmental-friendly options were implemented in TIMES-Spain following a literature review. These measures, aimed at contributing to the decrease of emissions to meet the established policy goals, include energy efficiency improvements, substitution scenarios (both for fuel and materials) and CO 2 capture (post-combustion and oxyfuel). From a policy approach, the deployment of the EU ETS Directive entails that CO 2 emissions from cement production will decrease by 8 Mt per year from 2030 with respect to the case without Directive. In a more technology-specific analysis, a remarkable decrease of 2–2.4 Mt CO 2 was obtained in the material substitution scenario beyond 2030. Additionally, taking into account current projections for cement demand, CO 2 capture technology does not emerge as a feasible option. Only if cement demand grew back to the pre-crisis level by 2050 and the CO 2 emission allowances remained fixed would the CO 2 capture via post-combustion start to be a reasonable alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is a cornerstone of the European Union's policy to combat climate change and its key tool for reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions cost-effectively. The purpose of the present work is to evaluate the influence of CO 2 opportunity cost on the Spanish wholesale electricity price. Our sample includes all Phase II of the EU ETS and the first year of Phase III implementation, from January 2008 to December 2013. A vector error correction model (VECM) is applied to estimate not only long-run equilibrium relations, but also short-run interactions between the electricity price and the fuel (natural gas and coal) and carbon prices. The four commodities prices are modeled as joint endogenous variables with air temperature and renewable energy as exogenous variables. We found a long-run relationship (cointegration) between electricity price, carbon price, and fuel prices. By estimating the dynamic pass-through of carbon price into electricity price for different periods of our sample, it is possible to observe the weakening of the link between carbon and electricity prices as a result from the collapse on CO 2 prices, therefore compromising the efficacy of the system to reach proposed environmental goals. This conclusion is in line with the need to shape new policies within the framework of the EU ETS that prevent excessive low prices for carbon over extended periods of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are one of the main agents behind the introduction of electric vehicles. In Spain, cities could establish up to a 75% deduction on vehicle tax based on environmental issues. This paper analyzes those variables affecting the establishment of such a measure using the Probit model on a sample of 395 Spanish municipalities. The results show that the urban population, its dispersion, and the municipalities’ environmental commitment positively affect the establishment of such incentives, while the rural nature of the population and unemployment do exactly the opposite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A methodology to assess energy flexibility of building clusters in a GIS framework. • Building clusters become energy prosumer by deep renovation and renewable energies. • It aims to integrate a wider spatial decision tool for environmental public policy. • Comfort thermal indexes quantify energy flexibility to measure peak load reduction. • Cluster design approach may help reduce investment costs and reach cost optimality. Natural resource depletion, global warming and pollution pose substantial threats in prioritizing environmental policy, both for private organizations and for governments. Half the EU building stock is prior to energy efficiency standards, thus making it an urgent challenge for the EU to aim at decarbonized cities by 2050. Urban energy retrofitting at cluster level represents a major opportunity, as its current rate is lower than an annual 1%, 3% being the EU desirable rate. This paper presents a bottom-up methodology to assess energy flexibility of building clusters within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework, applied on a district scale. Energy performance certificates and GIS-based data permit diagnosis and neighborhood selection. The methodology evaluates building cluster energy flexibility via energy demand reduction and PV production. The results show the building cluster hourly load profile for heating and cooling, and thermal comfort indexes. It is expected that this GIS-based methodology will become part of a wider spatial decision support tool for environmental public policies contributing to building stock transformation, from energy consumer to prosumer through deep renovation and renewable energy use. Finally, this methodology is adaptable to other climates, particularly within Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First-ever study to relate future Spanish environmental policies with EVs penetration. • The paper presents a novel methodology to reach a sustainable urban transport sector. • The limit power emissivity to hold a zero CO 2 emissions introduction of EVs is calculated. • A 100% renewable system will ensure a 77% CO 2 emissions reduction in Spain by 2040 due to EVs. Electric Vehicles (EVs) appear as an environmental solution for transport sector since they emit zero emissions while driving. Nonetheless, the carbon intensity (CI) of the energy sources involved in the electricity generation system could seriously compromise this solution. Hence, this study proposes a methodology to verify the sustainability of the sector by the introduction of EVs. By means of the "Well-to-Wheel" tool, it compares emissions generated by two fleets: one based on internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and another one that also contemplates different EVs penetration levels. This methodology develops an iterative process on the contribution of renewable sources to the electricity generation system until a certain level of emissions reduction is achieved. The needed evolution of the CI for the electricity system is therefore deduced. The methodology has been applied to Spain by the mid-term future, given these country policies for both a high penetration of EVs and a progressive introduction of renewable sources in its electricity system. Results indicate that the current Spanish electricity mix allows for a reduction in CO 2 emissions by the introduction of EVs, but a 100% renewable system will be needed for reductions up to 74 million tons per year. This research is a first-ever study to relate the forecasted Spanish environmental policies, in terms of urban transport and configuration of the power system, with a sustainable introduction of EVs in the urban fleet. Hence, this paper would be very helpful for policy makers on evaluation of the requirements for a transport fleet electrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]