Pere Aragonès, who heads the Esquerra Republicana ticket for the Catalan elections to be held on 14 February, says that moving towards a 100% renewables, zero waste model is “essential” in the face of the climate emergency.

A government that places the climate agenda at the heart of its policies. That is one of the objectives of the candidate to the presidency of the Catalan Generalitat government, Pere Aragonès, who announced the creation of a Ministry for Climate Action at a press conference yesterday morning. If Esquerra governs, he said, “we will create a Ministry for Climate Action, we will put environmental policy back at cabinet level, because a transversal leadership in this matter is essential to confront the challenges faced not only by the Catalans but by the whole of humanity.”

For Esquerra, green policies are a priority, which is why Aragonés said that “it is absolutely essential” to recover this agenda. In this regard, he detailed that the new ministry would include such issues as: “water management; energy management, to approach a 100% renewables model; and the circular economy and waste management, where we need to move towards zero waste,” he said.

However, the Republican candidate explained that his government will put public policy at the heart of everything and will be “progressive, pro-independence, republican, feminist and transformational,” he concluded.