These are the Government's carbon limits for economic sectors

BarcelonaMade on the basis of the recommendations of the Committee of Experts on Climate Change To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, as set by the European Union, the Government will approve Catalonia's first carbon budget this Tuesday. Although it is years late—the 2017 climate change law stipulated that they would be approved— before 2021–, this roadmap with the greenhouse gas limits that different economic sectors can emit into the atmosphere should reach Parliament in the autumn, according to Silvia Paneque, Minister for Ecological Transition and Government spokesperson.

The document to be processed contains the emission quotas assigned to each economic activity for the first five years, that is, for the period 2025-2030, aligned with the percentages stipulated by the European Union. According to the European executive, industries must reduce emissions by 62% compared to 2005, and the rest of the sectors, by 44% across the country as a whole. The regional ministry, however, has "assimilated" the target on a Catalan scale and has calculated which emissions it must reduce by 2050.

Based on GDP and emissions from the 1990s, Catalonia will be able to emit a maximum of 161.6 million tons of CO₂ between 20 and 20, mitigated by soil and forest cover. By sector, the energy sector will be allowed to emit 17,400 tons; industry, 54,700; agriculture and livestock, 20,500; and transport, 50,000. In the case of waste, 6,500 are allowed, and in the residential sector, 7,800.

Percentages by sector

The government's priority sectors are transport and industry. In the former, it has set a target of reducing emissions by 19% by 2030, the same percentage proposed by the EU but half of the Committee's recommendation (-32%). Therefore, the Generalitat will, on the one hand, focus on replacing fleets, both cars and intercity vehicles, with electric technology with incentives; on the other, aiming for 30% of freight transport to be carried out by rail. Paneque admits that the lack of necessary infrastructure (expansion of the Port and the Mediterranean Corridor, among others) has lowered this quota for the next five years.

In the industrial sector, the 100 companies required to reduce their carbon footprint will have to reduce their emissions by 33%, as required by the EU. Once again, the government's share is far below the experts' proposal (51%), but the government maintains that industries are already making a significant effort to implement CO₂ capture or energy self-sufficiency technologies. "These are ambitious but necessary goals," the minister argues.

As for agriculture and livestock, which according to European guidelines must reduce emissions by 22%—this is what the carbon budgets say—the main source of gas emissions (90%) comes from livestock manure. The Government says it is committed to treating slurry and feces using biogas technology, and although the Committee called for a 33% emissions reduction "due to the size of some of these farms," this goal is not feasible.

The two activities that do assimilate expert recommendations are residential—especially with economic incentives that help improve the energy efficiency of homes with aerothermal heating and heat pumps—and waste, whose flagship measure is the closure of half of publicly owned landfills.

"Pioneering milestone"

Government sources emphasize that the Committee's proposals are maximum and that the Generalitat (Catalan Government) has "considered" them to make them applicable with the technologies and measures available to it, given that such a significant reduction in emissions in such a short period of time could negatively affect the competitiveness of some sectors.

Paneque explains that the Committee is 10 years ahead of the EU deadline for achieving climate neutrality and includes climate justice compensation in its plan, which interprets the need for more developed countries to make greater efforts to take into account those countries that do not emit as many gases but are also suffering the effects of the crisis. "Only France and the United Kingdom have made progress on this issue; it is a pioneering milestone of which we are proud," the minister stated.

The executive branch's plan is for this document to be debated in a special plenary session, as requested by the Committee, but the decision will be made by the Parliament's Bureau. The climate change law It establishes that emissions must be reduced by 40% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, while in 2040 the reduction should be 65%, and in 2050, 100%. However, the plan that develops the measures to maintain these limits (PINECCAT30, Integrated Energy and Climate Plan for Catalonia 2030) is still being developed. Regarding compliance with the objectives, the Committee is responsible for publishing an annual monitoring report.