This year we celebrated 40 years leading climate action, local sustainability, and Circular Economy in the Basque Country. The people who have formed part of Ihobe over these past four decades, working collaboratively with numerous public and private agents, have made us a leader in integrating the environmental variable in Basque public policies. They have helped us successfully convert environmental sustainability into an element of competitiveness for Basque companies and favour the sustainable development of the territory.
This 2023 report reflects the past that has brought us this far, but also the promising future that awaits us. The approval of the Basque Country’s 2030 Environmental Framework Programme, the compass that will guide Basque environmental policy until the end of the decade, will have an impact on various areas of activity in the territory. It will require the coordinated effort from most of the Basque Government Departments, because it is increasingly evident that the environment transcends environmental policy.
The year 2023 also demonstrated that the Basque Country is one of the most advanced territories in terms of comprehensive soil protection. This was highlighted at SOILUZIOAK 2023, the Basque Country Soil Protection Congress which cleared the path for action to be taken and established the alliances required to achieve zero net land degradation by 2050.
In short, it has been a year full of milestones, which has also served to lay the foundations for the approval of the first Law on Energy Transition and Climate Change in the Basque Country, the legal framework that will help align the Basque Country with all the regulations, policies, and plans it has committed and adhered to, with the aim of achieving neutrality, resilience, and a fair transition by 2050.
Alexander Boto Bastegieta
General Manager
Ihobe, Public Environmental Management Company
Basque Government