The first meeting of the Gibraltar Net Zero Delivery Body (NZDB), chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, was held, virtually, this week.  This follows the publication of the Climate Change Strategy at the end of last year, and takes it to the implementation stage. The Minister for the Environment and Climate Change Professor John Cortes and the Minister for Transport Paul Balban also participated together with nearly twenty officials.

The group approved the draft regulations establishing the NZDB and individual members responded to the recommendations made by the Climate Change Committee for their respective organisations – including central government, represented by the Chief Secretary, the Ministry of Finance, the Department of the Environment and Climate Change, Town Planning, Technical Services, the GEA, the Port, the Ministry of Transport, the GHA, Public Health and Statistics.

The NZDB also agreed to establish three priority working groups which will cover:

• electric vehicle infrastructure development,
• cross-government data and reporting processes, and
• renewable energy generation.

Working groups will be set definite targets to be achieved by specific dates in order to ensure progress towards the overall decarbonisation agenda.

Other work streams identified include a public engagement strategy, green finance, and climate adaptation and resilience.

The Deputy Chief Minister, in the Chair, thanked all for attending, acknowledging both the amount of work already done in developing the Climate Change Strategy, and the significant amount still needed in order to keep Gibraltar on track with its climate change commitments. He also recognised the need for the public sector to lead by example and for Government action to match the level of ambition set out in the Climate Change Strategy. The NZDB will meet every two months and report on its progress to Parliament on a yearly basis. The agenda will continue to be driven by the Department for the Environment and Climate Change.