What is the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law
Ley 7/2021, de 20 de mayo, de Cambio Climático y Transición Energética (Law 7/2021 of May 20 on Climate Change and Energy Transition) is the first statute in Spain that comprehensively articulates the country's response to climate change and its path toward climate neutrality. Its passage transposed into Spanish law the commitments of the Paris Agreement and the European framework of the European Green Deal.
The law is not an isolated text: it is the backbone underpinning the closure of coal-fired power stations, the massive deployment of renewables, the transformation of mobility and the just-transition plans that have reshaped mining regions and industrial basins such as those documented in Álvaro Ybarra Zavala's photographic project.
Emission-reduction targets for 2030 and 2050
The law sets binding targets for Spain: reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions by at least 23% by 2030 compared with 1990, achieving a 100% renewable electricity system by 2050, and reaching climate neutrality no later than that same year.
For the 2030 horizon, the law also requires renewable energy to account for at least 42% of final energy consumption, renewable-source electricity to make up at least 74% of generation, and energy efficiency to improve by at least 39.5% compared with the baseline scenario.
The end of coal and hydrocarbons
The law consolidates the phase-out of coal as a power-generation fuel and prohibits new authorizations for hydrocarbon exploration, research and extraction throughout the national territory, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking) techniques. It also closes the door to new concessions for radioactive mineral extraction.
The large-scale demolitions of chimneys and cooling towers at plants such as Compostilla, As Pontes and Andorra are the visible face of this legal mandate: facilities that operated for decades and have now ceased activity to make way for renewable energy parks, green hydrogen plants or new industrial uses.
Renewables, self-consumption and storage
The law establishes a stable framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy, streamline project permitting and strengthen self-consumption. Each Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) sets out the volumes of solar, wind, hydro, biomass and renewable hydrogen capacity to be installed in each period.
Energy storage, smart grids and electricity interconnection are recognized as strategic infrastructure for integrating an increasingly distributed and variable generation mix — a necessary condition for achieving a 100% renewable electricity system.
Zero-emission mobility and cities
From 2040, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles with direct CO₂ emissions may no longer be registered in Spain. Municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants (and those with more than 20,000 and high pollution levels) must establish Low Emission Zones to reduce the most polluting traffic in their town centers.
The law also requires plans to deploy electric charging infrastructure at service stations, large parking facilities and new buildings, as well as the promotion of electrified public transport.
Just transition: the role of mining regions
One of the law's most distinctive pillars is the Just Transition Strategy and the Just Transition Agreements, instruments that support territories affected by the closure of mines, thermal power stations and nuclear power stations. Their goal is to preserve employment, attract new economic activity and maintain social cohesion in regions that for decades depended on a single industry.
These agreements are the human counterpoint to the images gathered in The Legacy We Will Become: a falling chimney is not only an environmental milestone, it is also the end of a way of life that the law seeks to redirect through training, investment aid and basin-specific plans.
Governance: the PNIEC, the Long-Term Strategy and the Committee of Experts
The law rests on three planning tools: the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) with a 2030 horizon, the Long-Term Decarbonization Strategy to 2050, and the National Climate Change Adaptation Plans. These instruments are periodically reviewed to align with scientific evidence and European commitments.
The law also creates the Committee of Climate Change and Energy Transition Experts, an independent body tasked with evaluating and issuing recommendations on climate policies and measures, whose reports are submitted to the Congress of Deputies.
Why it matters for understanding the photographic project
The demolitions, the industrial landscapes being dismantled, the new solar and wind farms and the regions undergoing reconversion that run through Álvaro Ybarra Zavala's work are a direct consequence of this legal framework. Understanding Law 7/2021 helps read the photographs not merely as an aesthetic document but as a chronicle of a transformation driven by international climate commitments and translated into Spanish reality by a specific statute.
The Legacy We Will Become is in dialogue with this law: it shows the cost, the opportunity and the memory of an energy transition that is happening, right now, across the territory.