Isabel García Tejerina inaugurated this morning the XII National Congress of the Environment (CONAMA 2014).

The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, inaugurated this morning the XII National Congress of the Environment (CONAMA), together with the president of the CONAMA Foundation, Gonzalo Echagüe; the mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella; the Minister of the Environment of the Community of Madrid, Borja Sarasola; and the secretary general of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, Ángel Fernández-Díaz.

During the inauguration, García Tejerina stressed the need to promote a more sustainable development model, which recognises the scarcity of resources and is at the service of social welfare. A model “that guarantees care for the environment and promotes, at the same time, economic development and the creation of quality employment”.
 
In this context, the minister stressed how the Government has been working since the beginning of this legislature to promote the transition to a low-carbon economy. As he assured, in these three years “we have not only managed to change the economic cycle without sacrificing environmental objectives, but, for the first time, we have launched a policy focused on achieving an effective alliance between environmental protection and economic growth”.
 
To this end, three successive editions of the Plan to Promote the Environment (PIMA Air) have been launched, in addition to the PIMA Sol and the PIMA Tierra, which will be followed, in the short term, by a new PIMA Aire and a PIMA Transporte. The minister also mentioned the Climate Projects, aimed at reducing emissions in diffuse sectors, “a pioneering initiative that is already in its third call, and with which we have already supported more than 85 projects”
 
García Tejerina also referred to the Carbon Footprint Registry, to which more than 50 companies have joined, which calculate and record their footprint, while promoting national sinks. In addition, “we have presented the Roadmap for compliance in reducing CO2 emissions, by 2020, in diffuse sectors”, he added.
 
At the same time, the minister pointed out that the Empleaverde Programme has promoted the creation or consolidation of 2,600 companies, thanks to a total budget of 42 million euros.