Spain Ratifies Global Climate Change Agreement

Spain Ratifies Global Climate Change Agreement

Spain has joined the USA, China, India, Australia, and other large EU nations in ratifying the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The agreement was initially drawn up last December in the COP21 conference.

Climate change is needed everywhere for our planet to survive

Spain will look to follow the terms of the Paris Agreement and come up with ways to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius before the end of the century. Scientists have agreed that carbon emissions must be cut by up to 50% in most nations to prevent the global temperature from rising to above 2 degrees Celsius; which is considered to be the point of no return for global warming.

The Spanish Environment Minister Isabel Garcia Tejerina last week revealed that they will ratify the details of the agreement as soon as possible. Many people welcomed the news as the future of the Paris Agreement was unknown following Donald Trump being elected as the next US president.

While Barack Obama pushed the American ratification of the Agreement through earlier in the year Donald Trump, who is against the idea of climate change, has threatened to rip it up.

The USA are in for now though, along with China, Germany, the UK and India; some of the biggest polluters in the world. Spain have also now joined in.

Tejerna spoke at the COP22 meeting in Morocco where she said that ratifying the agreement means that Spain will be able to take part in deciding the measures of the agreement. She said that the change had reached the point where no corporation or government could stop it, and that we would have to see how the new American administration will react.

There was one time when Spain was the global leader in renewable energy. There was a time when power from wind and solar energy accounted for 15% of the power in the nation. Since 2011 things have gone a little backwards however. Spain has since scrapped the generous subsidies that made it easy and profitable for people to install solar panels, and now there is even a controversial “sun tax”; which is when people are charged to return their solar power to the national grid.

It’s expected that this ruling could be rescinded in the new government though. Solar power is becoming cheaper to install and will only continue to get cheaper, so there is little to no need for government support.

Famous Faces Visit Marbella for Global Gift Foundation Party

Famous Faces Visit Marbella for Global Gift Foundation Party

Ronan Keating was the star of the show at this year’s Global Gift Gala out of Marbella.

Ronan Keating in Marbella recently.

Marbella played host to one of the most anticipated charity events in Spain across this past weekend. The party has always managed to bring in more stars than can usually be found in Marbella and this year was no exception.

Friday night saw a welcome cocktail party held at the La Sala nightclub, which was attended by former Boyzone star and current The Voice judge Ronan Keating and his new wife Storm.

Other stars flocking to the city included Ashley Williams from Made In Chelsea, TV presenter Olivia Cox and former popstar and X Factor judge Alesha Dixon, who also made an appearance at the Global Gift Gala dinner at the Gran Meliá Don Pepe hotel that was held the following night in Marbella.

Another famous face making an appearance was James Nesbitt, Irish star of Cold Feet. The party was held to celebrate the great work that the foundation does to improve the lives of children, women and families the world over who need some help.

Keating, 39, also took the time to play a round of golf with Nesbitt at the Estepona Golf Club as part of the Global Gift Golf sideshow, before taking to the stage for a performance at the evening bash hosted by Spanish actress María Bravo, who is also the founder of the charity.

The party has really become a major event over the past few years and it continues to bring in some major names. In the past it as played host to Victoria Beckham, Antonio Banderas, Ricky Martin, and honorary chair of the Foundation Eva Longoria come together to raise awareness of the foundation and their work.

Spanish Fashion Retailer Zara Leads Global Fashion Stakes

Spanish Fashion Retailer Zara Leads Global Fashion Stakes

The Spanish high street fashion retailer Zara has had one incredible year so far. Profits are up by over 8% compared to last year, fuelled in part by the company in Spain adopting a new business model.

Zara is led by one of the world’s richest men and Spanish entrepreneur Amancio Ortega, founder of the Inditex Group. In the six months following February 1^st the company reported €10.5 billion global sales for profits of €1.3 billion.

What is the secret to their success? Ortega believes that the success comes from their ability to get the latest fashion trends in their stores before any of their rivals can and offering them at competitive prices.

This is the business model that gave Zara the leeway to expand their global reach as they opened up 80 new stores around the world in the first half of the year. Zara also make their clothes closer to the markets that they serve as Zara clothes are typically made in Spain as the cost of living and manufacturing has been low including Portugal and North Africa, rather than the cheaper but more remote areas of China and India. As such they are just able to get their clothe sin the stores faster and easier than competing brands.

The company say that they can have a new design in store within just two weeks of it being drawn up, which shows how much Ortega cares about always being first and keeping up with the fickle world of fashion.

Zara represent a true Spanish success story and they have been enjoying these highs for a while now, but things can always change and experts agree that Zara can’t afford to rest on their laurels.

Making a big profit is actually a risk, according to Business Strategy Professor at the Madrid branch of Boston’s Suffolk University Noel Byrne. He warns that having a lot of profit means that your competition want a piece of the pie.

Byrne suggests that Zara should try to expand into the Asian markets, in particular South Korea and China. These two countries have seen the highest increases in individual spending on clothes since 2004.