Within the framework of the National Climate Council, one of the points discussed in this consultative body has been the state of play of the international negotiation for the agreement on the post-2012 climate regime, following the various high-level meetings held in the last two weeks in both Washington and New York.

Following today’s meeting of the National Climate Council (CNC), the MARM concludes the process of information and public participation for the draft laws for the transposition of the Directives on Geological Storage of Carbon Dioxide and modification of the greenhouse gas emissions rights trading system.

Another of the points discussed in this session of the CNC, chaired by the Minister of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Elena Espinosa, was the state of play of the international negotiation for the agreement on the post-2012 climate regime, after the various high-level meetings held in the last two weeks in both Washington and New York. as well as the most relevant points of the Bangkok Conference that began this week.

The members of the TNC also discussed various aspects of participation in the last working meeting before the Copenhagen Summit, which will be the United Nations Conference to be held in Barcelona at the beginning of November.

The two Directives are part of the energy and climate change package approved by the European Parliament last December. Its purpose is to implement a set of measures to ensure compliance with the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020, and 30%, provided that other developed countries commit to reducing their emissions in a comparable way in a Global Agreement within the framework of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.

The draft Draft Emissions Trading Law is an in-depth review of the EU emissions trading system that will start operating from January 2013. It also incorporates those obligations of Directive 2008/101/EC that includes aviation activities in the emission allowance system, which were not recently transposed into the second additional provision of Law 5/2009 on the securities market and other related matters, which was approved by the Spanish Parliament last June.

The second Draft Law transposes Directive 2009/31/EC on geological carbon storage, and aims to establish a legal framework in Spanish legislation for the geological storage of carbon dioxide in safe conditions for people, facilities and the environment, in order to contribute to the fight against climate change.

Likewise, within the framework of the meeting, information was provided on the 5th National Communication of Spain to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is a mandatory document that must be transferred by the signatory countries of the Convention and presents a general description of the measures adopted or planned to comply with the obligations undertaken by Spain.