ACRONYMS National Statistics Institute
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5 June 2026

Environmental Indicators Dashboard
Climate Change, Circular Economy, Energy, Biodiversity, Water and Footprints

Main results

  • Greenhouse gas emissions per inhabitant decreased by 1.3% in Spain in 2024. They have fallen 36.4% since 2008.
  • In 2024, the economy increased the use of materials per unit of GDP by 2.4%. It had fallen 52.4% since 2008, compared with the European average of 31.9%.
  • Total final consumption of household energy fell by 3.1% in 2023. It has decreased by 7.3% since 2015. 
  • 1.28% of the national forest area was affected by fires in 2025. This is the highest percentage since 1994.
  • Surface water was the main source of water in 2022, accounting for 66.4% of the total.
  • Spain's carbon footprint decreased by 7.4% in 2023 compared with the previous year.

The Environmental Indicator Dashboard is a dynamic tool that is constantly being updated. This edition includes three new indicators, Anomaly of the average annual air temperature with respect to the normal value and Percentage anomaly of accumulated annual precipitation with respect to the normal value in the field of Climate Change, and Forest area affected by fires in relation to the national total forest area in Biodiversity. The rest of the dashboard indicators are updated as in previous publications.

For context, the evolution of the indicators in Spain is compared with the European Union (EU-27) average where available.

Climate change

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from resident units per capita fell by 1.3% in Spain in 2024 and by 1.4% in the EU.

In the last 16 years these emissions have been reduced by 36.4% in Spain and by 30.3% in the European Union.

Greenhouse gas emissions from resident units per capita (equivalent tonnes of CO2 per capita)

Circular Economy

Material consumption per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 2.4% in 2024, to 325.9 tons per million euros. Compared with 2008, it has decreased by 52.4%. The European series has decreased by 2.1% and 31.9%, respectively.

Domestic material consumption per GDP (tonnes per million euros)

Energy

Final consumption of household energy per capita reached 26.80 Gigajoules per inhabitant (GJ/inhab) in 2023, a decrease of 7.3% compared with 2015. Oil derivatives were the main energy product, accounting for 59.0% of the total.

Per capita household final consumption (gigajoules per capita)

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

1.28% of the national forest area was affected by fires in 2025. This is the highest percentage since 1994. Of this figure, 87.4% was affected by large fires and 12.6% by other fires (less than 500 hectares).

Forest area affected by fires in relation to total forest area

Percentage

Water

The volume of water collection increased by 5.2% in 2022 compared to 2020, with a 3.4 point increase in the contribution of water from desalination.

Surface water is the main source of water throughout the observed period. In 2022 it accounted for 66.4% of total uptake.>

Water sources

Percentage

Footprints

This indicator measures per capita GHG emissions resulting from final consumption and investment. In 2023, Spain's carbon footprint decreased by 7.4%, compared with the European average of 9.4%.

Since 2010, the national footprint has fallen by 20.8%, compared to 22.4% in the EU.

Carbon footprint (tonnes of CO2 equivalent per capita)

Methodological note

The Environmental Indicators portal is intended to provide an overview of the different indicators published by INE on biodiversity, climate change, circular economy, energy and water. This project makes it possible to quantify and monitor the objectives set on the basis of the 51 indicators published, with full freedom to incorporate new indicators as new needs for measuring the different environmental aspects are detected.

Each section of the portal includes a main panel divided into sub-panels with interactive graphs that show the evolution of the indicators, the description of each indicator, results tables and metadata. This information can be downloaded.

Many of the indicators produced by the INE provide information for measuring the objectives of the European Green Pact, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the European Biodiversity Conservation Strategy 2030, the RePowerEU Plan and the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy. This series of experimental statistics is inspired by the desire to monitor these objectives through indicators that can reflect the national position on an annual basis in comparison with the trends of the European average.

Type of operation:
drawing up of summary and analysis with results from various sources..
Population scope:
spanish economy as a whole.
Geographical scope:
National territory and the European Union.
Reference period:
since this is a statistic that combines a multitude of sources, each of the indicators has a different reference period. The most current indicators refer to the year 2025.
Disaggregation variables:
depending on the statistic from which the indicator is derived..
Dissemination frequency:
ongoing from 2024, updated quarterly.

For further information, please consult the technical project .

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on  Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.

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