The Climate Change Law must be equitable so that all countries can contribute their grain of sand and reduce its effects. For this purpose, the future law that will be drawn up on climate change it will provide for a just transition for all sectors.
On what is this «just transition"?
Future Climate Change Law
The energy transition is based on the reduction of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas and an increase in renewable energies. This is intended to achieve a future economy based on decarbonization. However, each country, depending on its economic situation, can afford to stop emitting greenhouse gases and invest in clean energy or not. For it, the future Climate Change Law, It must contemplate a just energy transition for all those countries that cannot afford a low-emission development model, as would be the case for all those that base their economy on the exploitation of coal.
If a country whose economy is founded on the exploitation of fossil fuels, Spain cannot be required to reduce emissions, as this would drastically and inevitably affect the entire country. Therefore, the inter-ministerial committee working on this law, which will regulate Spain's compliance with the Paris Agreement, will attempt to identify all the issues that will be addressed in the future law and design a just transition for all. Furthermore, the economic challenges will have to be aligned with the focus on adaptation to the effects of climate change in different sectors. It is also important to consider how the adaptation of plants to climate change may influence the development of the law.
Topics covered in the law
For the preparation and design of the law, issues such as the new short-term and long-term emission reduction targets by sectors have been addressed. For it, it is intended to provide financing so that everything that is raised in the law can be carried out, together with compensatory measures to those countries that have sectors that are more vulnerable to decarbonization.
All these matters that are intended to be addressed will appear in the first draft of the law, which is expected to come to light during the first quarter of 2018, since the Government must first consult all political groups and other social actors involved to reach an agreement. This is because understanding climate change It is essential to design appropriate and effective policies.
For the elaboration of this law, the conclusions obtained during the development of the Bonn Climate Summit (COP23) which consolidates that no country has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, following the United States' withdrawal. It is essential to keep in mind that Cities that could disappear due to global warming are a relevant topic to consider.
Impacts of climate change
What is really urgent is how to act more quickly in the face of the increasingly frequent and intense effects of climate change. After COP23, there have been numerous advances in the rules that have to be developed for the Paris Agreement to work and that must be concluded by the end of 2018. There is still a lot of work pending if a just transition is to be achieved. The climate diplomats they will have to hold additional meetings before the next summit to detail these points.
Because the events taking place on the planet related to climate change can only be understood through the influence of human action, a solution must be found as soon as possible. The necessary adaptation of climate policies is crucial in this context. In turn, it is also important to address how climate change affects pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.
The special report of the intergovernmental panel of experts on climate change (IPCC) on the impacts of climate change on a world 1,5 degrees higher, which will be presented in September 2018, is well advanced and has had 12.000 scientific comments. In addition, more than 2.000 climate change experts from 124 countries are working.
Achieving the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping average temperatures below 1,5 degrees Celsius is quite difficult. However, it is a goal that must be taken into account and should be the basis for all climate change policies implemented from now on.
