Greenpeace denounces the lack of climate shelters in more than 70% of Spanish capitals.

Madrid, July 29 (EFE).- In a summer marked by extreme temperatures, the environmental organization Greenpeace warns that only 16 of Spain's 52 provincial and regional capitals have a public network of climate shelters to protect the most vulnerable population.

According to the report "Red-Hot Cities: Climate Shelters and Lack of Protection from Extreme Heat in Spain," the NGO denounced this Tuesday the lack of shelters in more than 70% of capital cities and highlighted that seven autonomous communities—Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia, the Canary Islands, and the Balearic Islands—completely lack these spaces in their capitals.

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Greenpeace emphasizes that climate shelters are one of the fastest and most effective adaptation measures to protect against extreme heat, especially in urban environments with limited green areas. It calls for three key measures: urgent and ambitious climate action, adaptation plans that transform municipal public spaces, and effective climate shelters.

Great inequalities between cities

Barcelona tops the list with the highest number of shelters with 401, followed by Bilbao (131), Murcia (94), Malaga (93), and San Sebastian (89). At the other end of the spectrum are Seville (5), Cordoba (14, for seniors only), Valencia (20), and Madrid (31).

In terms of population-to-shelter ratio, the best-ranked cities are San Sebastián (1/2,100), Lleida (1/2,400), and Logroño (1/2,500), while the worst figures correspond to Seville (1/137,400), Madrid (1/110,100), and Valencia (1/41,200). Alicante and Castellón barely have one shelter for their entire population.

Free access, a pending issue

Greenpeace warns that the total number and ratio do not guarantee the effectiveness of shelters, and in the absence of regulations defining and guaranteeing minimum requirements for these spaces, the lists of shelter networks provided by local governments are heterogeneous.

For example, environmentalists warn, opening hours are a basic requirement that all cities fail to meet, with most cases reporting closures at midday, in the evenings, or on weekends, or even complete closures for part of the summer, making shelters less useful.

Spain has only 2,100 climatic oases, one for every 23,000 inhabitants.

For Greenpeace, another outstanding issue is the free provision of shelters, which is not available in all the areas analyzed. Thus, the inclusion of municipal swimming pools, cultural spaces, and museums, requiring an entrance fee, violates the premise that shelters be accessible to people free of charge, as is the case in Madrid.

Spaces where consumption is mandatory are also offered as shelters, such as San Sebastián and Vitoria, which include shopping centers, or Logroño, which includes public cafes in its network.

Without suitable spaces

Many cities lack adequate spaces in terms of capacity and rest areas: Bilbao, Barcelona, Murcia, and Seville include typologies such as transport stations, markets, or sports centers without specifying whether they have designated rest areas or whether the space itself is adequate.

In addition, several cities also offer outdoor spaces such as parks, plazas, or walkways as shelters. To be effective, they must have sufficient shade to maintain the appropriate temperature, have rest areas, available water fountains, and be safe and accessible.

In this context, the organization warns of the importance of measures such as climate shelters in the face of heat waves, the meteorological event most easily attributable to climate change, the one that is increasing the most in duration and intensity, and the one with the highest mortality rate in Europe and Spain.