The Basque Country has a methodological guide for the climate and energy transition perspective to be included in the Budget of the Basque Country

The Basque Government’s Ministry of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability – through Ihobe – has produced the ‘Methodological Guide to Include the Energy Perspective and Climate in the Budget of the Basque Country’, in conjunction with the Basque Energy Board and the Budget Office of the Basque Government’s Ministry of the Treasury and Finance; the document is driven by the pressing need to advance towards low-carbon economies and to bolster resilience to tackle climate change. The guide provides a clear framework that is traceable and replicable to steer public financial planning towards the climate undertakings of the Basque Country. 

The document provides guidelines to identify and classify the budget items linked to decarbonisation and climate change adaptation, as per the Basque Energy Transition and Climate Change Act 1/2024; it also estimates the energy transition and climate perspective in the Budget of the Basque Country as standing at 1.9%.

Climate budgets have recently become a key tool to align public policies with the climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. Their role is to identify, classify and assess the climate impact of public expenditure, by facilitating a more efficient allocation of resources to measures fostering the climate and energy transition. 

Accordingly, Article 61 of the Basque Energy Transition and Climate Change Act 1/2024 establishes the obligation to include this aspect in the General Budget Bill, and allocating at least 2.5% of the annual budget to climate action measures. 

The guide that has now been published precisely fulfils that requirement. It is mainly aimed at the teams tasked with preparing the budgets of the Basque Ministry of the Treasury and Finances, and at other areas and entities of the Basque public sector. Its purpose is to act as a methodological document for the energy-climate tagging of the Budget of the Basque Country, making it easier for each authority to be able to identify and classify its items according to its contribution to the energy and climate transition. 

Furthermore, it performs an initial estimate of the Climate and Energy Transition in the Budget of the Basque Country for 2023, 2024 and 2005, noting an upward trend; items 1.5, 1.7 and 1.9, respectively, are favourable to this transition.

The proposed approach will also allow opportunities for improvement to be detected and the redirecting of resources to be bolstered towards measures that contribute to decarbonisation and greater resilience of the territory. Furthermore, the methodology can help to identify funding gaps and to improve access to external resources – public or private – by demonstrating the Basque Government’s commitment and capacity to co-fund climate actions. 

With this guide, the Basque Country advances in the development of instruments to ensure that the economic planning is in line with the climate neutral targets by 2050 and with its commitment to strengthen the territory’s adaptation ability to tackle climate change.