Catalonia
Government Structure and Role
Population: 8 million (2024)
GDP: €292 billion / US$317 billion
Geographic area (sq miles/kilometers):
32,100 km² / 12,393 sq mi
Major economic sectors: services, industry, tourism, agriculture and food
Government size – number of employees: 197,931
Governments & Jurisdictions: 42 counties and 947 municipal districts, organized into four provinces
Governance on Climate Change
Key laws and strategies
The Catalan Climate Change Law, enacted in 2017, provides a comprehensive regional legislative framework and establishes strategic guidelines for mitigating and adapting to climate change impacts, promoting sustainable development, and fostering a low-carbon economy. This law serves as the basis for the development of the Catalan Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation 2030, acting as the strategic reference framework for adaptation to climate change in Catalonia.
The Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Strategy of Catalonia 2030 is the strategic reference framework for nature conservation in Catalonia, aimed to ensure nature resilience, mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
Catalonia is also committed to sustainable water management applying the EU Water Framework Directive to achieve good ecological status in water bodies, compatible with water uses. In this way, the 3rd cycle of the Water Management Plan of the Catalan River Basin District was launched in 2023, after extensive public consultation, to meet sustainable water goals. Additionally, a special action plan for drought scenarios was drawn up in 2020 to mitigate the effects that droughts can pose on both water uses and aquatic ecosystems, and to guarantee water supply to urban areas in a worst water scarcity scenario.
Internal governance structure
In Catalonia, the internal governance structure on climate change is centralized around the Catalan Office for Climate Change (OCCC) – attached to the Directorate General for Environmental Quality and Climate Change of the Secretariat for Climate Action–which was established as the General Sub-Directorate of Climate Change. This office of 20 employees, serves as the technical and administrative support body for the Interdepartmental Commission on Climate Change in carrying out its functions, including coordinating the planning of climate policies and monitoring implementation.
Additionally, there are two key bodies affiliated with the ministry responsible for climate change: 1) The Committee of Experts on Climate Change: This is a collegiate body with functional autonomy that proposes carbon budgets for different time periods, monitors and evaluates climate policies, and presents its findings to the Government and Parliament; and 2) The Climate Change Social Roundtable: This is a collegiate body that facilitates participation, information exchange, and consultation with various social, economic, and environmental institutions and organizations in Catalonia regarding climate policies.
The Directorate General for Environmental Policy and Natural Resources of the Secretariat for Climate Action is responsible for nature and environmental services conservation. The Directorate has 287 employees, technical and administrative, who work on the conservation of natural heritage and collaborate closely with other sectoral policies that are intertwined, such as climate change.
Recent and Projected Impacts: MCAP Priority Climate Risks
Extreme Heat: In Catalonia, over the past 75 years (since 1950), the duration, frequency, and intensity of heat extremes have increased, both in terms of daytime (maximum) and nighttime (minimum) temperatures. Two examples of this trend are that currently there are five more heat episodes than in the mid-20th century, and there are 30 more tropical nights. In this context, 2023's challenging summer underscored the region's susceptibility to soaring temperatures, prompting the region to take action to protect climate refugees within cities facing adverse effects of extreme heat. Concerns to livelihoods, water scarcity, crop cycles, food production, and livestock welfare, persist due to recurring heatwaves.
Wildfires: The threat of wildfires looms large, particularly for Catalonia's extensive forestry sector, which covers 64% of its territory.
Drought: In 2024, the region is experiencing its worst drought on record. For three consecutive years, the annual precipitation has been below 23% compared to the average, with 2023 setting an absolute record with a 40% deficit across the entire region. This lack of precipitation has been accompanied by extraordinarily high and unprecedented temperatures (the annual anomaly for 2022 and 2023 was +2.7 ºC and +2.4 ºC, respectively, compared to the 1961-1990 average). It is a clear example of a compound event. Consequently, the region declared several alarm scenarios in 2022 and 2023 previously to an emergency statement on February 2, 2024, when reservoir levels have plummeted to a mere under 15% of capacity, necessitating putting in action stringent water conservation measures across several economic activities, such as irrigation, industry, recreational uses, etc.) sectors to guarantee minimum water supply to urban areas. An ambitious plan on indirect potable water reuse was carried out by the Catalan Water Agency to face water scarcity in urban areas, especially in Barcelona city.