The motto of this edition is "The hour of nature", a motto with which United Nations calls on citizens to listen to "the messages the planet sends us".
"The United Nations Environment Program It reminds us that this is the year of biodiversity, that we have to think about nature, about all those ecosystems, species, natural spaces that we like so much, that we say we want to enjoy so much and that we care so little about, "said the Vice President.
Ribera has recognized that the crisis caused by COVID-19 presents us with the opportunity to act, not to repeat the mistakes of the past and "seek a way out, a recovery that does not imply an additional mortgage for the present or the future." In this sense, the recipe is clear: "Achieve a redirection of our development and well-being model, thinking about the bets that we must make in the medium and long term and taking advantage of the technologies that we already have."
The Vice President recalled that the pandemic has forced to postpone until 2021 "some of the most significant environmental events in the international community, a fundamental basis for achieving cooperation in response to major issues on the global agenda." Among others, the biodiversity summit (COP15) or the climate change summit (COP26). "This is circumstantial," he pointed out. "The important thing is that now we have the opportunity to take advantage of that will to recover to build a different society, a different economic model, a scheme in which respect for environmental limits is essential."
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) works so that the recovery from COVID-19 faces the great environmental challenges, and takes advantage of the potential of modernization, generation of economic activity and employment of the transition towards a low model in carbon.
In this sense, Spain is the country with the highest biodiversity in Europe and it is also one of the most affected by climate change, but it has enormous potential to lead the digital revolution linked to renewable energy and a natural capital that guarantees generation. of employment.
A framework for recovery and reconstruction
In just over four months since the Legislature began the Government has sent the first legislative project to the Cortes so that Spain reaches emission neutrality no later than 2050, in accordance with scientific criteria and the demands of citizens. The Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition places Spain in a good position to take advantage of the opportunities created by the ecological transition in terms of modernization of the economy, a new reindustrialization, job creation and investment attraction, in a context of reactivation of the economy against COVID-19, while aligning us with the European Green Pact.
In addition, MITECO has presented the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change 2021-2030 (PNACC), a tool to build a safer country and less vulnerable to the impacts and risks of climate change, because it is so important to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and achieve climate neutrality before the middle of the century, how to adapt to the impacts of the climate that are already here and those that are to come.
Also this week the Government has approved the Spanish Circular Economy Strategy – "Spain Circular 2030" – and has started processing the Draft Law on Waste and Contaminated Soils, two key elements that lay the foundations to move from the current linear economy system, based on disproportionate consumption of resources and subsequent waste, to a circular system where the key is to minimize the rate at which we create and dispose of products, and take advantage of the materials that no longer serve us. Likewise, this preliminary draft includes, for the first time in Spanish legislation, limitations on single-use plastics.
This Circular Economy Framework, together with a royal decree that improves the traceability and control of waste shipments, is another of the levers for economic recovery after the health crisis of COVID-19.
About World Environment Day
World Environment Day is the most important date on the official United Nations calendar to promote environmental action. Since 1974, June 5 has become a global platform for public outreach that brings governments, businesses, celebrities and citizens together on a pressing environmental issue. Every year a different host country hosts the official celebrations of World Environment Day. The host this year is Colombia, with the support of Germany.