PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: Assunção Cristas, Catarina Pinto Correia and Carolina Vaza, VdA
ture, and to develop maritime services and safety, including the maritime ports sector. • The Secretariat-General of the Ministry of Environ - ment, which has a mission to ensure support for policy formulation, strategic and operational plan - ning and to support the performance of the Minis - try of the Environment at an international level and in the application of EU law. 2.5 Bilateral/Multilateral Co-Operation Under the Paris Agreement 2.5.1 Article 6.2 – Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes Until now, Portugal has not established any formal, publicly known bilateral agreements for the establish - ment of internationally transferable mitigation out - comes (ITMOs). Nevertheless, Portugal co-operates with countries aligned with the Paris Agreement on other areas of climate change policy action. 2.5.2 Article 6.4 – The Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism The Portuguese Climate Agency ( Agência para o Clima ) is the national authority designated in the con - text of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, monitoring the respective negotiations. In this context, it is the national competent authority pursuant to and for the purposes of Directive (EU) 2018/410 of the Europe - an Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2018 that establishes a scheme for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission allowance trading within the EU. It is also the national authority responsible, within the volun - tary carbon market established by the Decree-Law No 4/2024, for the approval of carbon methodologies, supervising the development and management of the platform for the registration of carbon projects and credits, monitoring the voluntary carbon market and making information on the functioning of this market publicly available on its website. The national legal regime for the voluntary carbon market excludes the possibility to use or claim carbon credits for comply - ing with EU or international obligations, including for the purposes of the EU ETS and the Carbon Offset - ting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) or for the fulfilment of NDCs from any other party to the Paris Agreement, but allows offsetting beyond residual emissions. The approval of all the complementary rules and the implementation of the
online registration platform are expected shortly. Por - tugal’s development co-operation framework involves permanent co-ordination between Instituto Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language, I.P. (under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) – as the institution responsible for coordinating development coopera - tion, and sectoral ministries, including the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, responsible for the - matic areas such as environment, climate change (CC) and energy. 2.5.3 Article 6.8 – Non-Market Approaches The Strategy for Portuguese Co-Operation 2030 (ECP 2030) was adopted in 2022. This strategy constitutes a guiding instrument for public policy on international co-operation for development. The strategy includes co-operation on the protection of the environment, fight against climate change, promotion of sustain - ability, and ensuring a green transition. The ECP 2030 specifically states that Portuguese cooperation should substantially contribute to three key international commitments: • the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; • the Action Agenda of Adis Abebda on financing development; and • the Paris Agreement. This strategy intends to strengthen the importance of international co-operation in Portugal. Moreover, the strategic framework and guidelines for development co-operation are aligned with the needs and priori - ties of partner countries and established by Strategic Co-Operation Programmes (PEC) signed with each partner country, including with long-time partners such as the PALOP countries ( Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa , Portuguese-speaking Afri - can countries) and Timor-Leste. Co-Operation with other Paris Agreement countries has been mostly achieved through the Environmental Fund established by Decree-Law No 42-A/2016, and geographically focused on the prioritisation of co-operation activi - ties towards the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) developing countries. According to the Decree- Law No 42-A/2016, amended by the Decree-Law No 114/2021, the national public entity in charge of managing the Environmental Fund is the Secretariat- General of the Ministry of Environment. This Fund
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