Spain battles climate change on several fronts

ByGuy Hedgecoe

Business reporter, Reporting fromMadrid

In a small green meadow in the Gredos mountains, west of Madrid, a couple of dozen cows belonging to Juan Ángel Izquierdo and his family are grazing. The only noise is the gentle clang of the bells around the animals' necks.

This would be an idyllic scene were it not for the blackened pine and oak trees all around, the legacy of a devastating recent wildfire.

"It was immense, I've never seen anything like it," says Izquierdo, whose family have been farming here for 200 years.

The fire, in late July, merged with two others, burning a total of around 80,000 hectares (200,000 acres), making it the biggest blaze Spain has ever registered.

It consumed more than two-thirds of Izquierdo's land and killed 12 of his 85 cows. Another eight animals had to be put down because of their injuries. All the hay he had gathered to feed his cows in the winter was also burned.

"For us farmers, the summers are becoming more and more worrying, because they are getting hotter," he says. "It rains less, the wet season ends earlier and the autumn starts much later."

For farmers, such conditions are synonymous with fires.

"If you don't think about the wildfires too much, you feel okay," Izquierdo says. "But when a fire starts in a nearby village you start wondering – 'and what if we're next?'."

Wildfires are one of several symptoms of climate change which in recent years have had a substantial impact on Spain's economy, as well as contributing to shocking human tragedies.

World Weather Attribution, an international research organisation, found that the extreme conditions that drove record-breaking fires in Spain and Portugal in 2025 were 40 times more likely, external to happen due to the warming climate.

"The ultimate reason for the greater frequency and intensity of these kinds of fires has to be attributed to the increase in greenhouse gases caused mainly by the generalised use of fossil fuels," said Ernesto Rodríguez Camino, president of the Spanish Meteorology Association.

The Socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has described the fires in dramatic terms, placing Spain in the front line of an environmental crisis.

"The climate emergency kills," he said in July, during a visit to the southern province of Almería where a wildfire claimed 15 lives.

This year, around 300,000 hectares of land have been burned in Spain, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), approximately half the total affected in the entire European Union.

In the last 40 years, damage caused by Spanish fires each year has exceeded 200,000 hectares on eight occasions – three of those since 2022.

Farming insurance association Agroseguro estimated that 16,000 hectares of crops had been destroyed by mid-August this year, a major blow for Spain's agri-food industry, which contributes 9% of the country's GDP.

The local authorities in Castilla y León, the region most heavily affected by this year's massive fire near Madrid, are offering compensation – between €5,500 ($6,300; £4,700) and €25,000 ($29,000; £21,000) to each farmer – depending on the damage suffered. But Izquierdo estimates that this will cover less than half of his losses.

For decades, Spain's warm climate has been a boon for one of its other biggest industries - tourism. Sun-drenched resorts along the Mediterranean coast, and in the Balearic and Canary Islands, have driven the country's growth as a tourist hub.

This year, close to 100 million foreigners are expected to come to Spain, making it the second most-visited country in the world, just behind France.

Yet there are signs that the heat is becoming too much for some travellers. A study by researchers at Madrid's Rey Juan Carlos University found that it can as a deterrent to potential visitors., external

"When there is a heatwave, the number of overnight stays drops in the destinations that we've studied, and there is also a drop in arrivals from some of Spain's biggest markets," says María Dolores Sánchez, an economist who co-authored the report.

"Tourism represents 13% of Spain's GDP, so this could have repercussions in the medium term when it comes to Spain's competitivity."

The medieval city of Toledo is on the plains of Castilla-La Mancha, far from Spain's coastline, but its rich history and winding streets have made it a popular destination for those seeking an alternative to the country's beaches and bars.

However, this summer tested their tolerance of heat, with the country registering a record-breaking 61 days of heatwaves that continued into early September. Toledo repeatedly saw temperatures in excess of 40C.

"It's quite difficult to do the tours in the summer," says guide Diego Esteban, of the company Visit Toledo. "We need to adapt, whether it is those of us who work in the tourism industry or the locals."

When leading tours in the summer months, Esteban makes sure that there are frequent stops, drinking water is provided and that the itineraries include plenty of shade. However, he would like to see more shade and drinking fountains available.

He says the heat has started to change the timing of the tourist season, bringing many more visitors during the cooler months of spring and autumn.

Warmer summers have also encouraged the so-called "coolcation" trend, whereby Spanish travellers seek out cooler areas to spend their holidays, typically in the north of the country.

Another consequence of Spain's warming climate has been drought. In 2024, after three years of minimal rainfall, the north-eastern region of Catalonia temporarily introduced stringent restrictions on water use, including a 25% reduction for industry and an 80% reduction for crop farming.

Heavy rainfall since then has lifted the restrictions, but the drought had a major impact on the local economy.

The most dramatic and tragic natural phenomenon Spain has seen in recent years were flash floods that killed 237 people in the east of the country in October 2024, centred on the Valencia region.

Spanish meteorological research group Climatoc-Lab described it as "a manifestation of how global warming alters the hydrological cycle".

The Valencia Chamber of Commerce estimated that the floods caused €4.5bn in direct damage. Thousands of businesses were affected, some literally washed away by the floodwater, while others were able to resume operations after a lengthy recovery.

"It was a disaster, both in terms of the lives lost and the impact on businesses, on workers, employers and ordinary people," says Laura Llácer Álvarez, manager of the Fepeval federation of industrial parks in the Valencia region.

Spain's geographical position, along with its climate and topography, make it unusually vulnerable as global temperatures increase. Germanwatch, an independent environmental organisation, ranked Spain the world's 20th most affected country in its climate risk index for 2024, just behind Nigeria and Mali.

Yet there are those who see an upside for the economy.

"Climate change affects how we produce, how we invest and how we consume," says Julián Cubero, head of economics of climate change at economic think tank BBVA Research. He points to how heat can act as a drag on economic activity.

"We all work worse when it's hot," he says. However, he adds, a greener economy can create new jobs with greater productivity.

"The key is to realise that if we don't act, growth will slow down, and if it's handled right it can become an opportunity," he says.