Ecuador's National Assembly approved a bill reforming the country's Organic Environmental Code on Tuesday, passing the measure in a second debate with 82 votes during the legislature's 113th session.
The bill was processed by the Assembly's Biodiversity Commission, which is chaired by Camila León of the ruling Acción Democrática Nacional (ADN) party, the political movement aligned with President Daniel Noboa.
Lawmakers said the existing Environmental Code lacked sufficient detail in several areas needed to implement national climate policy more effectively. These included coordination between government institutions on climate decisions, mechanisms for monitoring and updating management tools, general rules for climate cooperation instruments, how to handle losses and damages linked to the adverse effects of climate change, strengthening national climate information systems, and promoting research, development and innovation on the issue.
Rapporteur defends the reform
The bill's rapporteur, legislator Katherine Pacheco of ADN, said climate change is a reality being felt across Ecuador's provinces, visible in the droughts, floods and fires that affect Ecuadorian families and cause damage to roads and losses in agricultural production.
Pacheco said the law strengthens the State's tools for coordinating action against climate change and its adverse effects. The proposal was backed by other ADN legislators, including Nuvia Vega and Keenvin Gallardo, while lawmakers from the opposition Revolución Ciudadana (RC) bloc, the party founded by former President Rafael Correa, raised objections to the reforms.
Opposition raises concerns
Legislator Verónica Íñiguez criticized the bill, saying it would open the door to corporations that launder their greenhouse gas emissions and would allow concessions to be granted to economic groups.
She said the law would not bring money into the State's coffers, that it sought to enrich economic groups through concentrated concessions, and that it trampled on conservation initiatives sustained by Indigenous communities on their territories. Legislators from the correísmo bloc voted against the reform.
What the reform contains
The approved bill has 17 articles, two transitional provisions and one final provision. Among the changes are new rules on the powers of the Interinstitutional Climate Change Committee and which institutions make it up; initiatives and instruments tied to mitigation results in the land use, land use change and forestry sector; the National Climate Change Registry; climate cooperation instruments and carbon mechanisms; and approaches to adaptation, mitigation and addressing losses and damages from climate change's adverse effects, along with criteria for measures to tackle them.
The law defines the Interinstitutional Climate Change Committee as a high-level collegiate body for intersectoral coordination, tasked with articulating, guiding and monitoring national climate policy. It will bring together 16 institutions, including the National Assembly, the Foreign Ministry, and the ministries of Finance, Environment and Energy, Health, and Infrastructure, among others, along with representatives from provincial governments, municipalities and rural parish boards.
Carbon mechanisms and next steps
On climate cooperation instruments and carbon mechanisms designed to reduce pollution, the law states that the State will regulate and supervise their development and implementation so they contribute to national and international commitments Ecuador has taken on under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.
The legislation also sets a maximum of 360 days from its publication in the Official Registry for the National Environmental Authority to issue secondary regulations governing the organization, operation, administration, interoperability and procedures of the National Climate Change Registry.
A separate 360-day deadline applies for the National Environmental Authority to issue the secondary regulations needed to implement the Interinstitutional Climate Change Committee, its sectoral technical subcommittees, the carbon mechanisms, environmental and social safeguards, administrative procedures, and other provisions required to apply the law.
