Spain at 70% non-Carbon Electricity: Will it be 1st Net Carbon Zero G-20 State?

Juan Cole writes that Spain at 70% non-Carbon Electricity: Will it be 1st Net Carbon Zero G-20 State?.

If Spain doubles its wind generation from 22% of its energy mix to 40% in the next five years, as it plans, then that would take it to 87% of its electricity from renewables and nuclear. The other 13% may well be supplied by solar, allowing the decommissioning of the coal plants, assuming the government reverses its decision to remove solar subsidies, which has hurt investors in that sector. Note that fossil fuel industries typically get government subsidies, which the MSM doesn’t usually talk about, and that Spain is especially at risk from climate change effects such as desertification and sea level rise, so “subsidies” for clean energy would save the country trillions of dollars over time.

Spain, a country of 47 million people, has a gross domestic product of $1.4 trillion, making it the world’s 14th largest economy and ranging it with Australia and South Korea in that regard. If it can go completely to renewables and nuclear with regard to electricity generation, then it may well be the first large, economically consequential country to go entirely green.

In contrast, Australia gets 92% of its electricity from burning coal, petroleum and natural gas, even though the continent has abundant solar and wind. Its current prime minister, Tony Abbott, is closely tied to Big Oil and is a climate change denialist. Mexico, another country with a GDP similar to that of Spain, also is a major carbon polluter. Canada’s GDP is a bit larger than Spain’s but it is also a major dirty energy polluter, endangering the earth with its irresponsible dumping of C02, a dangerous and powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

Emphasis Mine

In the Capitalist scheme of things, Australia's role is to be a reliable supply of minerals, such as iron and uranium, as well as a major coal supplier.

Despite the success of the Renewable Energy Target program of the previous government, the Abbott government is doing all it can to discourage investment in renewable energy. Unfortunately, the political climate in Australia supports such a move. Coal is seen as more manly than wind and solar.