Catalonia to pass climate change law before summer

Barcelona (ACN).- Catalonia shows commitment to fight climate change. Coinciding with the inauguration of the Barcelona ‘Innovate4Climate’ conference, the Catalan Minister of Territory and Sustainability, Josep Rull, confirmed on Wednesday that the Catalan Parliament will approve a law before summer to fight climate change. In declarations to the press after opening the conference, the minister highlighted that this law “will be the first one in this field in the south of Europe” and that the Catalan government’s aim is to guarantee a "minimum impact" of climate change on people and the environment. Rull also highlighted that it is an "ethical commitment" for companies and administrations to fight climate change, and stressed that is also actually a “profitable business”.

The Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, introduced the future Spanish platform for fighting climate change, which will be presented at the next COP23 conference. In declarations to the press Tejerina said “The Innovate4Climate conference is important in the fight against climate change and we will collect the proposals during this event to integrate them into the future Spanish law in this area."

The Spanish minister pointed out that “for five years” the world has “pushed forward effective policies against climate change and it is necessary to do so with everyone's consensus”. “The platform is to bring together all the companies and work together voluntarily in a network to share solutions. We, the administrations, have to lead, but we will not avoid global warming without the collaboration of companies and citizens,” she added.

Public policy and private investment

The senior manager for Climate Change at the World Bank, John Roome, also participated in the inauguration of Innovate4Climate and he opted for combining public initiatives with private investments to fight climate change. Roome emphasized that “it is necessary to find the financial resources to combat climate change, which represents the biggest challenge of our times”. The World Bank manager celebrated the commitments of the COP21 in Paris and said he is “optimistic” about “a transformation towards a model with less CO2 emissions”.

“A massive technology investment is necessary to help fight climate change. Innovations in green technology can create millions of jobs throughout the world with a global population of almost 9 billion people, out of which 2 billion more are going to live in urban surroundings. The aim is to make this transition in an environment of low CO2 emissions,” concluded the World Bank representative. As an example of leading industries in the fight against climate change, Roome pointed out the sectors of electrical mobility and renewable energies, especially wind power.

The Innovate4Climate event is taking place in Barcelona between Monday, May 22 and Thursday, May 25. According to the organization, Innovate4Climate establishes “a new global dialogue” between leaders of “governments, multilateral affairs, business, banking and finance” focused on “shaping the next generation of climate finance and policy instruments”. The event includes conference, workshops and networking meetings as well as exhibitions to debate subjects such as Carbon Markets, De-risking Investments, Climate Resilient Development or Green Growth Policies.