He said that laws can be liked or disliked, deputies can express their position on it by voting and then presenting proposals.
At the same time, “breaking off” the quorum does not indicate a serious attitude towards work, as the deputies have to participate in the sittings, for example by voting “for” and “against” draft laws, according to Jurēvics.
Jurēvics, however, emphasized that nothing is lost and work on the draft law to limit climate change will continue next week.
The Saeima consists of 100 people’s representatives or deputies. On the other hand, according to the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima, parliamentary sessions can only take place if at least half of the members of the Saeima participate in them, that is, 50 deputies, which is the minimum number of deputies or quorum.
The coalition has a total of 52 votes in the parliament.
The LETA agency found out that four MPs from the coalition did not attend the meeting for various reasons. Ingūna Circene (JV), Gunārs Kūtris (ZZS), Ervins Labanovskis (P) and Jānis Reirs (JV) did not participate in the vote.
Agency LETA already reported that the Saeima did not vote on the draft Climate Law in the first reading on Thursday, the purpose of which is to ensure progress towards limiting climate change and climate resilience, because there was not enough quorum at the meeting.
After voting several times, 48 deputies voted for the bill, with one abstaining. Due to the lack of a quorum, the Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa (ZZS) closed the parliamentary session.
The purpose of the law is to ensure progress towards limiting climate change and climate resilience in order to achieve climate neutrality and national climate goals by 2050, in accordance with European Union (EU) and international obligations, taking into account environmental, social and economic sustainability.
The draft law is designed to improve and update climate policy regulation, expressing all climate policy conditions in one place.
The draft law consists of six chapters, including the first chapter on general regulations, the second on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increasing carbon dioxide sequestration, the third on adapting to climate change, the fourth on the EU emission allowance trading system, the fifth on climate financial instruments, and the sixth – about the responsibility of planning regions and municipalities and public participation in climate policy planning and implementation.
At the national level, the law will act as the legal basis for the implementation of climate policy. This is said to be necessary to ensure the development of various policy planning documents, the fulfillment of monitoring and reporting requirements, the determination of sectoral goals and responsibilities, as well as the integration of climate change policy in the management structures of planning regions and municipalities. The Ministry also notes that in the context of climate policy, only GHG of anthropogenic origin is discussed.
At the same time, the law is said to be necessary for the regulation of climate finance mechanisms and the acquisition of EU funds for the implementation of national-level climate measures and policies, including the improvement of the energy efficiency of buildings in both the public and private sectors, the development and implementation of renewable energy resources (RES) technologies, as well as the implementation of integrated solutions for reducing GHG emissions .
In climate financing, project tenders are implemented to support households and businessmen for the implementation of climate-friendly technologies. Taking into account that the draft law regulates the use of these financial resources, its failure to adopt would negatively affect the provision of financial support intended for society and the private sector, the ministry emphasizes.
Also, the draft law is necessary for regulating the operation of the EU emission allowance trading system (ETS) and the EU emission allowance trading system in the buildings, transport and additional sectors (ETS2) at the national level. The draft law is intended to transpose several EU directives that define activities within the framework of ETS and ETS2, and to determine the conditions of these activities in the context of Latvia.
Among other things, the draft law stipulates that the goal of reducing Latvia’s GHG emissions for sectors not involved in the EU emission allowance trading system, which are energy, transport, industrial processes and product production, agriculture and waste management, for 2030 is a total of 17% compared to 2005.
It is also planned to establish the State Environmental Service as an obligation to perform monitoring functions over the extension of the EU Emissions Trading System to buildings, road transport and additional sectors.
The Ministry of Climate and Energy (KEM) explains that currently most of the norms in the field of climate policy are contained in the Law “On Pollution”, which covers several areas related to environmental policy – requirements for polluting activities, requirements in the field of air protection, requirements in the field of climate change policy , as well as other questions. The regulation contained in the current law creates difficulties in its application, because the norms are applicable to a range of subjects, thus different interpretations and misunderstandings arise, and the scope of the current law is not completely clear.
Taking into account that the aforementioned areas are areas of national importance for environmental protection, in 2021 the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development made a decision to develop three separate laws – in the field of polluting activities, in the field of climate policy and in the field of air protection. Additional management issues of contaminated sites and regulatory regulation of environmental quality are expected to be integrated into the Environmental Protection Law.
Certain legal norms in the field of climate policy are currently also included in the law “On Latvia’s participation in the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol”. The separation of norms into two different pieces of legislation has contributed to the fragmentation of climate policy norms. Taking into account the good practices of EU member states and other countries, streamlining the system by creating one law in the field of climate would be an important step for Latvia, KEM says.