"The draft Climate Law defines the role, duties, responsibilities, and participation of everyone - state, local government and individual - in the implementation of climate policy, to mitigate climate change and its impacts on our economy.
"Climate change is present in all sectors - agriculture, transport, energy, etc., and it is therefore essential that climate policy elements are included in all sectoral policies to reduce the vulnerability of these sectors to climate change. By implementing mitigation and adaptation measures, we become more efficient in our use of resources and reduce the damage caused by climate change in the long term. It is equally important to stress that integrating climate objectives into municipal and sectoral development planning is a key prerequisite for accessing funding, such as European Union (EU) funds," said Climate and Energy Minister Kaspars Melnis (Union of Greens and Farmers).
The climate law sets Latvia a target of 17% emissions reductions by 2030 compared to 2005. This target applies to all sectors of the economy - transport, agriculture, industry, energy, waste management.
The draft Climate Law brings together in one place all climate policy legal provisions that were previously defined in other laws, as well as introducing new elements that were not regulated before. With the entry into force of the new EU climate legislation last spring, KEM has accordingly improved and extended the scope of the draft law to ensure transposition of the new EU legislation.
Work on the Climate Law has been ongoing since 2021. KEM took over the drafting in 2023, organizing several public consultations, inter-institutional meetings, and seminars on the implementation of the provisions of the law during the drafting process.
The full draft law can be found here.
