environment

In 2013, 80.7% of cardboard, paper and plastic packaging used in Catalan households was recycled. This rate is 2 percentage points lower than that registered in 2012 due to people stealing waste from recycling containers, according to representatives from the industry. Catalonia's overall recycling rate is 38% but the Catalan Government aims to make this 60% by 2020. The level of paper and plastic recycling by Catalan homes is almost 9 percentage points higher than the Spanish average (71.9%), and quite close to the leading countries in Europe such as Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, whose households recycle around 85% of these products. Representatives from waste and recycling organizations spoke positively of the efforts made, but stressed the need to reach all the population and economic sectors.

On Friday, the Spanish Government approved the €1,350 million compensation to Escal UGS, the company behind the controversial Castor Project, a submarine facility built to store 1.3 billion tonnes worth of gas reserves off the Ebro Delta coast. This project failed after it was found to have caused almost 1,000 small earthquakes. This amount will be financed through increased tariffs to gas consumers over the next 30 years, resulting in public compensation for a private investment. The Spanish Government is obliged to pay the developer Escal UGS, because of a clause in the 2008 Royal Decree whereby the State would agree to compensate the company should the project be unable to be completed. An appeal of this law was rejected by the Spanish Supreme Court last October. The Spanish Government has argued that this solution is cheaper than operating the project. The Catalan Government however, which had opposed the project from the start, has appealed this decision to the Constitutional Court.

The Spanish Government plans to compensate €1.35 billion to the companies behind the failed Castor project, the off-shore gas storage facility built off the coast of Vinaròs, a Valencian town near the Catalan border. The company Escal UGS, controlled with a 66.7% stake by ACS, filed a claim in July last year for the €1.6 billion cost. The project which funded with €1.4 billion worth of bonds issued by the European Investment Bank in a controversial new funding scheme, was forced to temporarily stop a few weeks after it began in September last year, after it was found to be responsible for almost 1,000 earthquakes in Catalonia's Ebro Delta.  However, due to a clause from 2008 in the agreement, Escal was legally entitled to compensation. The Spanish Government tried to free itself of this obligation, but last October the Supreme Court allowed it. This decision has been highly controversial and will cause further political, financial and ecological earthquakes.

40 municipalities in Barcelona's Metropolitan Area, are to half the price of public transport during incidents of high air pollution. This is part of a Catalan Government plan for the improvement of air quality with the goal to fight climate change, affecting 4.3 million people. The main objective of the plan is to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and of particle matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10). The plan also includes the promotion of rail travel and increasing highway tolls and the fares of municipal parking within these areas by 25% on polluted days. In addition, there will be tax breaks for those industries achieving lower emissions. The measures are aimed at the mobility of people and goods, industrial activity, and citizens’ habits.

Catalonia is among the top three European countries in the recycling of household packaging, with about 220,000 tonnes collected in 2013, according to the CEO of Ecoembes, Oscar Martin. Speaking at the opening of the first ‘Congress of Sustainable Catalonia’ on Friday, Martin also announced that 84% of Catalans separate waste either every day or almost every day, in what he called an “act of civility.” Ecoembes is a Spanish environmental organisation that concentrates on the ‘ecodesign’ or packaging so it can be more easily recycled. The first 'Congress on Sustainable Catalonia: Society and the Environment’ has been organised by the Catalan Department of Planning and Sustainability, in collaboration with Ecoembes.

89 beaches and 24 marinas in Catalonia are among those sharing the highest quality standards in Europe, since they have received a blue flag. This award is given for the quality of the water, the cleanness of the environment, easy access for people with mobility problems, the security services and other indicators. Last year, 90 beaches received a blue flag while this year Catalonia received one award less. Beaches on the Costa Brava kept their 28 blue flags, those on the Costa Daurada and the Ebro Delta also kept their 38 awards, but the coast of Barcelona went from 24 to 23 quality awards. Spain has received a total of 573 blue flags for its beaches and 108 for its marinas, a record, with 23 more beaches and 11 more marinas on the list. In this way, Spain continues to top the list among 48 states and 51 territories.

The Catalan Government announced it will take to the Constitutional Court four bills drafted by the Spanish Executive because they neglect Catalonia’s self-government capacities and exclusive powers. The 4 affected bills are the Education Reform, the Market Unity Law, the Local Governments Law and the Environment Evaluation Law. The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government and Minister for the Presidency, Francesc Homs, said that those reforms go against the Constitution and aim to reform it “through the back door”. “It is a reform without the needed transparency, without holding an open debate”, he said. “They are stripping away our political capacity to decide”, Homs emphasised. The Spanish Government justified the recentralisation of powers as a way to improve efficiency in times of economic crisis and austerity. However, several experts have already warned that it is not proven that efficiency will improve if powers are centralised.

The Catalan Executive announced it will take the Spanish Government’s Hydrologic Plan for the Ebro River (Plan Hidrológico del Ebro) to the European Commission, as it will damage the river’s delta, which is a unique environment and one of UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves. The European Commission replied that it will need “weeks or even months” to analyse the plan, which only guarantees that around 30% of the river’s volume of flow will reach the delta. According to scientific studies, such a volume of water is absolutely insufficient to preserve the Delta, which is a reserve for wildlife as well as a tourist and agricultural centre. The project foresees allocating almost 11,000 cubic hectometres of water per year upstream to irrigate 1.41 million hectares of fields, a third of them newly-created. Brussels is still waiting for Madrid’s documentation but the Commission warned that it will look at the plan “from all the possible angles”.

The Catalan Government has approved 3 new environmental taxes on the air pollution emissions of commercial flights, industrial gas and particle emission, and the nuclear production of electric energy. €50 million are expected to be raised per year once the law will be enforced, which is scheduled for mid-year. The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, has admitted that flights at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport would likely be affected. However, he ensured that none of these 3 new taxes would have a negative impact on the consumers. The law specifies that the tax cannot affect pricing, neither for plane tickets nor for electricity, pointed out Homs. He then put in contrast the €98 million fees an airline can have to pay to the Spanish Airport Authority (AENA) with the €1 million in taxes that may be levied by the Catalan Government.

The Catalan Government has presented the new waste plan for 2013-2020 for discussion between city councils, companies and citizens to finalise its contents, according to Santi Vila, the Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability. Vila said the plan foresaw the investment of €782 million, 28% of which would be provided by the private sector. The Government has set “very ambitious” targets such as reducing by an extra 15% the current volume of waste, thereby continuing the efforts of the past ten years in terms of waste reduction, added Vila. They also intend to reach 60% of selective municipal waste collection whereas in 2012 this data was set at 39%. The waste plan will create 4,000 to 7,000 new jobs, in both direct and indirect ways.

A series of earthquakes measuring between 2 and 4.2 on the Richter scale have been affecting the coast of southernmost Catalonia and northernmost Valencia in the last few weeks but particularly since last weekend. All the evidence suggests that the Castor offshore gas reservoir is behind the earthquakes. In 2009, the Spanish Government approved the building of an underground gas reservoir located under the sea bed, some 20 kilometres offshore from the Ebro Delta and Vinarós, using the cavity in the rock from a former oil field. Madrid approved the project without an earthquake risk report, despite a formal petition from the Catalan Government. Now, geologists, the Spanish Industry Ministry and the company admit that the injection of gas into the rock could be triggering the earthquakes. Activities have been stopped and the Public Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the case.

The winner of the 25^th Premi Internacional Catalunya, Gro Harlem Brundtland has explained how receiving the award with Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai is “special as both are fighting for women’s rights”. The former Prime Minister of Norway and ex Secretary General of the World Health Organisation also stated how it would be “very strange” if Catalonia were to leave the EU in the event of a hypothetical independence from Spain. Brundtland also encourages Catalonia to invest and establish renewable energy systems as well as gender equality quotas in both politics and business.

Seven islets just one kilometre away from the town of L’Estartit on the Costa Brava form one of the most attracting diving areas in Europe. Twenty years of protection as a natural marine park have permitted a complete sea-bed recovery, which hosts hundreds of species such as groupers, lobsters or even red coral. Caves, sharper rocks and sand banks captivate thousands of scuba diving lovers each year. Thanks to Illes Medes, L’Estartit has evolved from a little fishing village to an international diving town where tourists from all around the world are regular visitors looking for its submarine views.

Terres de l’Ebre, which encompasses the delta and the catchment area of the Ebro River’s lowest stretch, displays a unique relationship between nature and traditional human activities. It has lovely landscapes, with hills, cliffs, fields and picturesque villages on both sides of the river, as well as coastal ecosystems, where the delta offers amazing and delicate environments. The new Man and the Biosphere reserve covers 367,729 hectares and has 190,000 inhabitants. The cultivation of rice, citrus fruits and olives, livestock breeding as well as aquaculture and fishing are the main human activities, “respecting biological conservation and landscape values”, stated UNESCO. The Montseny hills and forest are the other Catalan biosphere reserve.

Both women have been awarded Catalonia’s most prestigious prize for “their determination and courage in the defence of human rights”. Malala Yousafzai is the young activist in Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban for defending the right to education, particularly for female students. Gro Harlem Brundtland coined the term “sustainable development”, advocated for fighting climate change, was the Director of the World Health Organisation and had the luck to escape from Utoya’s deadly attack. Each year, the ‘Premi Internacional Catalunya’ is given to individuals who have greatly contributed to humankind’s development. Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva, received the prize last year. Other awardees include: Haruki Murakami, Jimmy Carter, Aung San Suu Kyi, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Doris Lessing, Jacques Delors, Amartya Sen and Karl Popper.