The Government will give the green light in days to the bill against climate change and cars with emissions

A year and a half after the Ministry for the Ecological Transition prepared its first draft of the Climate Change Law, everything points to next Tuesday, or at the latest in two weeks, the draft will be approved in the Council of Ministers, according to knowledgeable sources, and thus begin its parliamentary journey. The text maintains its objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, affecting sectors such as automotive or electricity, in order to achieve climate “neutrality” by 2050. Or what is the same, carbon dioxide can still be emitted, although much less, and the one generated must be compensated, either through its capture with natural resources (such as more forests) or by possible technological tools, making the national balance null.

The draft, which will finally contain 36 articles according to ministerial sources, maintains in its wording the reference to the need to achieve a fleet of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles without direct CO2 emissions in 2050. To this end, “the necessary measures will be adopted, in accordance with European regulations, so that new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, excluding those registered as historic vehicles, not intended for commercial uses, gradually reduce their emissions, so that no later than the year 2040 they are vehicles with emissions of 0gCO2 / km”.

That is, the draft climate change law maintains the main messages that were already advanced by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in 2018. But if the initial wording included the veto on the sale and registration of combustion cars from 2040, a year later it was slightly modified to talk about new cars “zero grams”, something that now remains. In this way, the editorial staff tries to respect the principle of “technological neutrality”, without mentioning a specific technology, although in practice today the only cars with zero emissions are electric or hydrogen cell cars.

Once the draft has the approval of the Council of Ministers, it will begin its parliamentary tramination, where there could be modifications again. “We have no intention of further delaying the great ecological transformations of our economy. In a few days or weeks they will receive the Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition, “said the head of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, last Thursday in the commission of the branch of Congress.

As announced by the Government in this new legislature, its objective was to bring to Parliament a climate change bill that guarantees net zero emissions by 2050, promoting a 100% renewable electricity system, an agricultural system neutral in CO2 equivalent emissions and a fiscal, budgetary and financial system compatible with the decarbonization of the economy and society, among other measures.

In addition, the latest modifications made public in February of this year, when the text entered the final stretch of processing before reaching Congress and before the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, also included the obligation for municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and island territories to establish low-emission zones no later than 2023, and that any municipal measure that involves a regression for these areas must have a positive report from the competent central or regional administration. That is, an attempt will be made to shield low-emission zones, such as Madrid Central, to complicate a political change into a reversal of the measures.

Source: ABC