Interview with Jorge Moreira da Silva, Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy and Chair of the EPP Environment Ministerial meetings
The aim of the European Union at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21 UNFCCC) is to keep the rise of the global average temperature below 2°C. Do you think that agreement will be reached?
Portugal has been one of the countries advocating for more ambitious action on climate mitigation and renewable energy and, simultaneously, one of the countries in Europe that will suffer significantly from the impacts of climate change, mostly on our coastline and in what regards our water resources. We cannot afford to pay the price of failure in Paris. According to all relevant and consistent scientific and economic assessment, addressing climate change is urgent but it is also manageable and it can be cost-effective.
Therefore, we have serious expectations regarding the future 2015 agreement. We argue in favour of the adoption of a single global, rules-based, legally binding agreement, preferably in the form of a new Protocol, applicable to all, which aims to ensure the global temperature increase stays below 2° C.
Each country has to develop its understanding on what are the best options to choose from in accordance with their national characteristics. Portugal is mainstreaming green growth as a key driver towards sustainable development, to promote a competitive and resilient low carbon economy, high efficiency in resource use, competitiveness and jobs. The Paris outcomes should include a global and long lasting Agreement and a set of Decisions focusing on the implementation dimensions, including as regards accounting rules (including LULUCF), market mechanisms and, very importantly, the modalities of the ambition revision mechanism/process to be agreed in the years to come.
Whereas the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) put forward by more than 150 Parties and covering more than 90% of emissions may be a sign of mobilization towards a global agreement, the global effort translated in these INDCs is still not enough to put the brakes on climate change.
In this context, it is crucial to create a continuous process for submitting and updating mitigation commitments for future commitment periods, based on the latest scientific information, on the different and evolving national circumstances, and guided by the principle of progression of ambition as regards commitments and that commitments are accompanied by quantifiable, comparable and verifiable information.
We must therefore ensure a continuous and fruitful debate, within the United Nations, international organizations and think tanks, on the global effort for emissions’ reduction under the framework of the Agreement both as regards current and future contributions in order to keep in line with the global temperature increase below 2ºC objective.
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) will take part as an Observer in the official EU Delegation. Do you think local and regional authorities have an important role to play in the fight against climate change?
Local and regional authorities have an important role to play in the process. Given the urgency of the matter, national governments can’t afford to ignore those who are ultimately responsible for making the goal of cutting emissions a reality.
Local and regional authorities are the level of government which not only implements policies decided at higher levels but also put forward policies and initiatives within the remit of their own autonomy. They are key in turning a strategy into an action plan adapted to the local needs and challenges and demonstrating tangible results to citizens.
Could you please give us an example of how the Portuguese government works with local and regional authorities on environmental issues?
A significant example of the collaborative work between the government and local and regional authorities is recently launched an ambitious long term commitment signed in Portugal – the Commitment for Green Growth (CGG) – by the government and the social society with almost 100 organizations from science, finance, entrepreneurship, ONG and administration. The CGG establishes goals and initiatives on green jobs, resource productivity, energy efficiency, electric mobility, spatial planning, forest management, water resource efficiency, air and water quality and biodiversity. It also sets the target of reducing GHG emissions by 30 to 40% until 2030, compared to 2005 and to increase renewable energy share to 40% by 2030. It seeks to lay the foundations for a commitment to policies, goals and targets that foster a development model that will reconcile essential economic growth with lower consumption of natural resources and social justice and quality of life for the population.
Another good example of collaborative work between the government and the local and regional authorities is the Portuguese Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change (ENAAC), which was established in 2010 and revised in 2015. Given the recognition that local authorities play a major role in the implementation of adaptation measures, the National Association of Municipalities is part of the coordination group of the ENAAC. The needs and contributions from this group informed the elaboration of Programme AdaPT, developed to support financially the work on "Adaptation to Climate Change" in Portugal. Its development was supervised according to the terms set out in the Memorandum of Understanding between Portugal, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein under the EEA-Grants.
The major Project within AdaPT is ClimAdaPT.Local, which aims at the training of local government agents (municipalities and municipal enterprises) for the development of Local Strategies for Adaptation to Climate Change. The project is aligned with the main aims of the European Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change and ENAAC and intends to demonstrate that the EEA Grants can effectively promote adaptation at local level in Portugal.
Embedding the climate change adaptation dimension on local and municipal level in Portugal, creating a community of municipal actors, aware of climate change issues and trained for the use of support tools to decision making on adaptation, promoting and providing local adaptation knowledge particularly in the definition of strategies, planning and implementation of measures and results communication, reducing barriers and constraints to the local actors’ involvement in adaptation processes and integrating adaptation into municipal and sectoral agents’ decision and planning processes are the five complementary way designed to meet established goals.
A transdisciplinary and highly recognized team of experts will elaborate the Municipal Adaptation Strategies, while raising awareness of local stakeholders and provide training to municipal staff regarding Climate Change Adaptation issues, and promote Adaptation mainstreaming into Land Management tools/policy.