The autonomous community of Catalonia, in the north-east of Spain, is tackling the problem of climate change with characteristic vigour and imagination. In its determination to give the strongest backing to Spain’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions, Catalonia has gained enthusiastic support from all sections of its society.
Climate change is a global problem; therefore, a global, long-term strategy must be defined with the cooperation of all the states and under the coordination of the United Nations. However, any global strategy also requires local actions, otherwise the effectiveness of the measures will be lacking. Catalonia is fully immersed in this international context, which is setting the goals to be achieved. Its government has set out to provide a steadfast impetus to Catalan public policies that will enable it to fulfil the most imminent commitments derived from the Kyoto Protocol and to define the actions for the coming decades.
In late 2006, the government of Catalonia was furnished with two instruments to define the actions to be undertaken to deal with climate change, to embark on transversal policies and to integrate sustainability criteria into its industrial policies. These two instruments are the Catalan Office on Climate Change and the Interdepartmental Commission on Climate Change.
Catalonia’s commitment to comply with the Kyoto Protocol
As part of its policies aimed at countering climate change, the government of Catalonia has developed the 2008-12 Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change. The goal of this plan is for Catalonia to contribute responsibly, proportionately and effectively to Spain’s commitment to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. This is the first step towards setting future policies, in which the results of the post-Kyoto negotiations must be included in Catalonia’s strategies while simultaneously taking into account Europe’s current and future commitments.
The three strategic goals of the 2008-12 Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change are:
For the sectors not covered in the European Union Emissions Trading Directive: To ensure and promote the deployment of measures aimed at limiting the rise in emissions to 37% compared to the base year. According to forecasts, this goal means preventing the emission of 5.33m tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the yearly average in the Kyoto Protocol period, even in the sectors not included in the emissions market. In exercising its responsibility, Catalonia has voluntarily set this goal for itself.
As is well known, the rise in emissions from so-called “diffuse sources” is very difficult to limit in both Catalonia and the rest of Spain. At the same time, the government of Catalonia has sweeping competences to work on the measures to combat climate change in diffuse sectors such as mobility, waste, agriculture, the residential sector, retail, construction and industry and energy, which are not included in the EU’s Emissions Trading Directive. For this reason, the focal point of this plan’s efforts is mitigating emissions from these sectors.
For the sectors that are covered by the directive: The goal is to drive the reduction in emissions through actions aimed at improving energy efficiency and savings and at fostering participation in the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol.
To increase knowledge of the phenomenon of climate change, and to drive transversal actions via research, awareness-raising, training and participation.
It is worth noting that the working methodology used in the Catalan plan, which differentiates between diffuse sectors (not included in the directive) and the sectors covered by the directive, is the same as the one used by the European Commission’s proposal in the January 2008 Energy and Climate Package for the post-Kyoto period.
The 2008-12 Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change, as well as the subsequent addition of a Catalan strategy for the post-Kyoto period, require us to continue to pursue the policies already underway in Catalonia, and it probably new fronts of action will have to be opened up as well. These public policies will not be enough unless they are developed within a framework of broad, integral agreement with the citizenry, and unless synergetic actions are promoted between the government of Catalonia, local governments, business and social enterprise, social stakeholders and even the habits of the people of Catalonia.
The government of Catalonia deemed that it was necessary for the development of the plan to open up a process of dialogue, consensus and exchange with Catalan society. To this end, citizens were invited to take part in the Catalan Convention on Climate Change, a participatory process parallel to the government’s internal planning efforts, aimed at gathering opinions and contributions from all the stakeholders in organised civil society. This process was novel in terms of both the scope of the subject being addressed and the participatory methodology used, and it has generated a great deal of interest throughout Spain and in many European institutions.
The Catalan Convention on Climate Change
The participatory process of the Catalan Convention on Climate Change was organised by the Catalan Office on Climate Change in conjunction with the Sub-Directorate General of Environmental Information and Education, with the support of the Directorate General of Citizen Participation.
The convention was held in different phases. It began with informative sessions held in July 2007, and continued with the opening conference and working and debate sessions. It ended with the closing conference held on February 142008, where the preliminary draft of the Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change was officially unveiled.
Participation in the process was quite high, demonstrating that Catalan society is highly motivated to learn of and contribute ideas related to climate change. This is partly a result of the sweeping social debate that is currently underway in the media, and partly because citizens are beginning to observe – and at times suffer from – the effects of climate change.
All told, more than 800 people and 417 different entities participated, including companies, associations, foundations, universities, professional associations, trade unions, agricultural entities, town halls, county councils and provincial councils.
Society’s contribution has been evaluated as highly positive. During the entire participatory process of the Catalan Convention on Climate Change, proposals were gathered from the different participation mechanisms. Prominent scientists in the field of climate change in Catalonia made contributions as well. During the process, around 1,000 proposals were received, many of them highly developed and very well structured.
When the drafting of the Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change began, the government of Catalonia chose not to propose any initial text, rather it chose to pursue an open process in which all the participants could suggest measures and actions aimed at mitigating greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, in order to spur the debate, at the start of the process the Catalan Office on Climate Change did provide a document that contains a set of 1,000 measures and actions aimed at mitigating climate change that were the outcome of a detailed analysis of 33 prominent documents on countering climate change from around the world. This document was given to all the participants at the opening conference of the convention, and it was loaded on to the website created for the process.
However, it should be pointed out that in addition to enriching the Mitigation Plan itself, the participatory process has made major inroads in raising awareness and educating the public. It has provided a structured view of the types of measures that might be undertaken in Catalonia to mitigate climate change and has generated an organised, constructive debate on these measures.
Likewise, the government itself has also worked intensely on the plan in conjunction with the technical and political heads of the different departments that are involved in the issue, including: Environment and Housing; Economy and Finances; Territorial Policy and Public Works; Agriculture, Food and Rural Action; Health; Interior, Institutional Relations and Participation; Innovation, Universities and Enterprise; and Education.
The interdepartmental efforts within the government have been aimed at incorporating the proposals received and evaluating and providing what the current forecasts and plans for the period contribute to reducing emissions in Catalonia.
2008-12 Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change
The result of the participatory process not only deepened the knowledge of everyone involved, but it also helped to identify measures for the 2008-12 Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change. This plan, which is still in its draft form, clearly identifies the policies to be applied in each of the spheres of work defined in the European Union Emissions Trading Directive. The plan includes a programme for the sectors covered in the directive, which account for 34% of the total emissions in Catalonia, as well as a programme for the sectors not covered, which contribute 65% of the emissions.
The plan also includes a programme of actions aimed at driving research, awareness-raising and participation.
There is a series of especially noteworthy proposals within the emissions reduction programme for sectors not covered by the directive. They include express buses, the anaerobic digestion of liquid manure, pursuing and augmenting the capture of methane from dumpsites to be used for energy, and creating a registry-certification of companies and entities that lower additional emissions. The sum of all the sector-specific actions of the programme and other mechanisms, such as voluntary agreements and domestic offset projects (a mechanism designed to stimulate the internal reduction of greenhouse gases in sectors not covered by the European Union Emissions Trading Directive); all these achieve an average yearly CO2 reduction equivalent to 3.55m tonnes in the Kyoto period, in fulfilment of one of the goals of this Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change.
The plan is coherent with the international and European framework of the Kyoto Protocol. Yet it is also coherent with the Bali roadmap for the post-Kyoto agreements and is fully coherent with the Energy and Climate Package. It is also worth mentioning that the Catalan plan aims to fulfil the Kyoto Protocol while also putting Catalonia on the right track to achieve the goals for 2020, the year by which the EU is aiming for a 10% reduction in diffuse emissions compared to the 2005 rates.
The plan also contains the key elements for initiating the process of adapting to climate change, although according to the EU and the international community this front of action to counter climate change must be addressed immediately and parallel to the mitigation policies. For example, in view of the need to grapple with the effects of climate change in the Delta de l’Ebre region, one of our most vulnerable coastal areas, the government of Catalonia is studying possible effects as well as measures aimed at prevention and adaptation.
Catalonia’s position on future climate change policies
The 2008-12 Catalan Plan to Mitigate Climate Change clearly demonstrates Catalonia’s position on climate change by deploying measures aimed at implementing the government of Catalonia’s current policies for countering climate change. It also lays the foundations that aim to guide future policies in the short, middle and long term such as adaptation to climate change and the challenges of the post-Kyoto negotiations. European agreements to reduce emissions by 20% or even 30% by 2020, depending on the success of the post-Kyoto negotiations, must be included into our country’s strategies.
This section is sponsored by the Government of Catalonia.
For more information: www.gencat.cat