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Extractive activities constitute an essential strategic sector in the renewable transformation of the new energy model that the European Union is ambitiously promoting through numerous regulatory and strategic instruments in the last five years from the Paris Agreement until the recent approval of the proposed regulatory package "Fit for 55" and the European Climate Law, with the aim of achieving climate neutrality in 2050. To achieve this objective, the so-called critical mineral resources (CRM, critical raw materials) constitute a key element related to climate change and the development of renewable technologies of the new energy model, once again placing these activities at the center of the history of industrial and economic transformations, this time in the 21st century. Despite the impetus and attention from the European Union, through the EU Action Plan on minerals and raw materials essential for the development of strategic sectors and the promotion of their extraction, in Spain we continue in a regime of exceptionality and constitutional abnormality before the still pending Law of Bases of the Mining Regime (art. 149.1.25) that adapts the preconstitutional Law of 1973 to the organization and competences of the Autonomous State, and that dynamizes and promotes a new intelligent and environmentally climatic mining (Smart Mining) both with a current regulation in the granting of permits and concessions, as happens in the legislation of neighboring countries, as well as with the introduction of technologies that facilitate the search for resources with new prospecting methods and the resolution of mineral problems and improvement of the final products. However, maintaining a tradition of the Governments in Spain of the absence of regulatory predetermination and great discretion in their actions and decisions, paradoxically these activities have not received the slightest attention in the three pillars of our Strategic Framework for Energy and Climate, leaving a mere very punctual mention, and also in a prohibitive sense, in the recent Law on Climate Change and Energy Transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the mobilization of Spanish cities in the fight against climate change in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors, launched in 2008 in the European Union. Through the Covenant, cities commit to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to improve their energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energies. With more than 7,700 signatories, the Covenant is an interesting example of how cities have a decisive role In the fight against climate change and in improving the sustainability of cities. The article gives an account of concrete initiatives that Spanish cities have proposed to fulfill their commitments, ranging from the replacement of public lighting to the pedestrianisation of urban centers passing through areas the increase of green in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article evaluates how the transition of power underway in the international system has changed international climate negotiations, as well as the way the EU has responded to this process. More specifically, and, in line with the introductory article of this edition, it is argued that, until 2005-2007, negotiations took place within a structure of normative congruence, characterised by climate institutions being set up in spite of the reluctance of a very powerful coalition of states. However, since mid-way through the first decade of the 2000s, the negotiations have entered a phase of institutional lag and the new coalition of key actors (made up of the United States and emerging countries) are imposing a new conceptual approach that has left the old institutions clearly lagging behind. The EU has responded to this change by adjusting its strategies and objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Desarrollo Económico is the property of Instituto de Desarrollo Economico y Social and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)