The Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition of the Generalitat, Sílvia Paneque, has announced that the Government will reserve 150,000 euros from the Climate Fund for the drafting and initial work of a plan aimed at facing extreme heat episodes in Catalonia.
Paneque presented this on Tuesday in the plenary session of the Parliament, in response to an interpellation from the CUP spokesperson, Dani Cornellà, focused on citizens' rights in the face of the effects of climate change. During her speech, the minister offered collaboration to all parliamentary groups, except for those in "denialist" positions, with the aim of jointly developing this plan.
In her explanation, she stressed that, "unfortunately," it is a tool that will have to remain "active for years" and that different executives will have to develop it in view of the current climate situation.
She specified that the plan will have to address "different vulnerabilities": social, territorial, and material. Therefore, the risk map will incorporate indicators such as the age of the population, income level, year of construction of housing, orography, degree of urban renaturalization, the existence or not of climate shelters, and the specific conditions of each area of the territory.
Likewise, she pointed out that the design of the plan will be carried out within the framework of the alliance of Mediterranean regions, as some of these territories have public policies that "could be interesting" to apply in Catalonia.
Aid from the Climate Fund for local administrations
On the other hand, Paneque announced that in the third quarter of this year, 15 million euros from the Climate Fund will be activated to support city councils, local entities, and municipalities in their adaptation and mitigation actions against climate change.
This line of aid was already presented by the Government in November of last year, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Bethlehem (Brazil).