Spain's climate-skeptic right wing rejects Pedro Sanchez's 'national pact' to tackle the climate emergency

The truce lasted barely two days. Despite King Felipe VI’s call for national unity amid the wildfires ravaging Spain – and despite the almost unanimous speeches made by lawmakers across the board calling for solidarity on Sunday, July 26 – political maneuvering has quickly returned to a country more polarized than ever between the left and the right.

On July 28, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez chaired his last cabinet meeting before his government’s August recess. While stating that firefighters could “see the light at the end of the tunnel” in the fight against the blazes ravaging the Iberian Peninsula, the Socialist leader again called on the opposition to sign the national pact addressing the climate emergency. According to the European satellite information system EFFIS, more than 207,000 hectares have burned in Spain since the start of 2026, putting a spotlight on the pact, which was subject to a broad public consultation with civil society, NGOs and scientists.

Announced as early as the summer of 2025, the national pact requires the approval of most political forces represented in Congress, as was the case for the national pact against violence against women in 2017 under the Rajoy government, or the anti-terrorism pact in 2000 under the Aznar government. Finalized in December 2025, it sets out 15 lines of action. These include creating climate refuges in the event of new disasters such as wildfires, and implementing a new model of forest management for better handling of combustible material in ecosystems.

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