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Historical Environmental Accounting of Spain

This website provides harmonized historical series on resource use and environmental impacts in Spain, based on more than a decade of interdisciplinary research. Its aim is to expand traditional environmental accounts, which are generally limited to recent periods, in order to support both economic and environmental analysis as well as the creation of new narratives. In addition to raw data, it includes visualization tools and brief trend analyses, and will soon incorporate provincial, sectoral, and municipal information on land use, energy, emissions, and population.

Visualizations

Historical series of resource use and environmental impacts in Spain in a global perspective (1860–2020)

Integrated database covering materials, energy, emissions, crops, water, and nitrogen, comparing Spain and the world. It includes absolute values, trends, per capita data, and figures per unit of GDP.

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Historical series of material flow accounting (Spain, 1860–2023)

Series of material flows in Spain by type (biomass, fossil fuels, metals, construction) and indicator (extraction, trade, apparent consumption) since 1860. Extended official series from Eurostat and INE.

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Historical series of greenhouse gas emissions (Spain, 1860–2017)

Series of total greenhouse gas emissions broken down by main sources. Own estimates for agriculture and land use (AFOLU) based on historical records and adjusted factors.

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Historical series of energy consumption (Spain, 1860–2020)

Series of annual energy consumption, based on the Energy History Project approach, including both traditional sources (food and fodder, firewood, hydropower, and wind) and modern sources (fossil fuels and electricity).

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Historical series of land use distribution by major categories (Spain, 1860–2021)

Series of major land cover and land uses in Spain, with annual values since 1860, including crops (herbaceous and woody), forestry (high forest, scrubland, and open forest), pastures, and other areas.

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Historical series of crops (Spain, 1860–2021)

Evolution of cultivated land since 1860. The main crop groups are broken down: fallow, fruits, cereals, olives, vegetables, industrial crops, and other crops.

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Data

The Data section of CAHE brings together historical and updated series on resources, energy, emissions, and land use in Spain, providing a solid foundation for environmental and energy analysis.

Analysis

In this section you will find articles based on CAHE’s data and charts, offering rigorous interpretations that help to understand Spain’s environmental and energy trends.