A study by Ecologistas en Acción, a member of Seas At Risk, reveals how subsidies to the primary sector are contributing to the biodiversity crisis. The government had committed to eliminating or reformulating these incentives by 2025.
Ecologistas en Acción, in collaboration with Economistas sin Fronteras, has released a report identifying biodiversity-harmful incentives in Spain’s primary sector, as part of its campaign Without Biodiversity, There Is No Life. The study, the first of its kind conducted for Spain, examined official data from national and regional accounts. It analyzes the fiscal policies benefiting the agricultural, fishing, and forestry sectors and their impact on ecosystems and species extinction.
The report concludes that public administrations granted €8 billion in 2024 to activities and companies directly linked to biodiversity loss. The total figure is even higher, as these numbers do not include other sectors with a significant environmental impact, such as transport and energy. The annual public budget for nature conservation and restoration, combining the General State Budget and European funds, is €2 billion, four times lower. The data show a clear fiscal inconsistency. Spain faces a €3.5 billion funding gap to meet its commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Reforming, redirecting, or eliminating these subsidies would address this deficit.
Governments have failed to meet their goal of rethinking these incentives to transform 50% of harmful subsidies by 2025, as established in the State Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity 2030. Addressing this issue is a requirement under TARGET 18 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Framework. Spain not only fails to meet international commitments, but also damages its own natural heritage, soil, water, forests, seas, and species, by financing activities that accelerate its deterioration.
The report reveals that 84% of the most problematic subsidies are direct aids, mostly from European funds for the agricultural and forestry sector (CAP) and fisheries (EMFAF), although Next Generation EU funds linked to irrigation intensification and bioenergy from forest biomass burning are also highlighted. The analysis also covers tax exemptions, particularly those benefiting pesticides, fertilizers, and fuel for professional fishing.
Ecologistas en Acción emphasizes that public subsidies are necessary to support the primary sector. However, the current system favors large companies and lobbying groups instead of supporting lower-income producers, who are the ones generating the most wealth in their communities. Aligning public aid with nature conservation and restoration is an opportunity to advance fiscal policies that protect biodiversity and the most vulnerable rural and coastal economies.
More info at: Incentivos perversos: Cómo se subvenciona la destrucción de la biodiversidad en el Estado español, Ecologistas En Acción.
Posted on: 24 February 2026
