The secretary of state for environment is a senior minister of the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge responsible for assisting the minister in the design and implementation of the government policies on climate change, water resources and the environment.
As the highest-ranking official responsible for these responsibilities, the secretary of state serves as ex officio president of the National Parks Autonomous Agency and the State Meteorological Agency. He or she is appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Minister for the Ecological Transition. Since 19 June 2018, Hugo Morán has served as secretary of state.
History In April 1991, the position of Secretary of State for Water Policies and the Environment was established within the Ministry of Public Works. The Secretariat was organized through a General Secretariat for Environment, the Directorate-General for Hydraulic Works—today known as Directorate-General for Water—, the National Geographic Institute and the meteorological agency. In August that year, the General Secretariat was abolished and it was structured through the directorates-general for Hydraulic Works, for Water Quality, for Coasts; for Environmental Policy and the aforementioned agencies.
In September 1993 this body assumed the housing policy, with the aim of unifying and thus enabling better coordination of urban land and housing policies with national and European environmental policies. According to Royal Decree 1671/1993, of September 24:
In May 1996, new prime minister José María Aznar created for the first time a Ministry of Environment and split the housing and environmental policies. Furthermore, environmental policies were also divided. On the one hand, a State Secretariat was created solely for the management of water and coastal policies, while the remaining nature conservation and environmental quality policies came under the direct authority of the minister, through the reinstated General Secretariat for Environment. The meteorological agency was placed under the authority of the under-secretary.
In 2001, the Spanish Office for Climate Change was established and in 2004, the General Secretariat for Environment is abolished again, splitting its powers between two new general secretariats: one for Territory and Biodiversity and another for Pollution Prevention and Climate Change.
In 2008, environmental responsibilities are transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and a "Secretariat of State for Climate Change" is established. At this time, all these responsibilities were divided among this Secretariat of State, the Directorate-General for Natural Environment and Forest Policy of the General Secretariat for Rural Environment and the General Secretariat for the Sea.
In late 2011, the Secretariat of State for Environment was formally reestablished with its original powers—environment and water resources—, and since 2018 is part of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
Organization As of 2026, this is the current organization of the State Secretariat: Secretariat of State Organization (2026)Secretary of StateCabinet (Chief of Staff)State Meteorological AgencyDirectorate-General forWaterDeputy Directorate-General for Hydrological PlanningDeputy Directorate-General for Economic and Budgetary Programming and ManagementDeputy Directorate-General for Public Water Domain and InfrastructureDeputy Directorate-General for Water Protection and Risk ManagementRiver Basin AuthoritiesCommonwealth of the Taibilla CanalsSpanish Office forClimate ChangeDeputy Directorate-General for Climate Change MitigationDeputy Directorate-General for Carbon MarketsDeputy Directorate-General for Adaptation to Climate ChangeDirectorate-General forEnvironmental Quality and EvaluationDeputy Directorate-General for Waste ManagementDeputy Directorate-General for Pollution PreventionDeputy Directorate-General for Environmental AssessmentDirectorate-General forthe Coast and the SeaDeputy Directorate-General for Maritime-Terrestrial Public DomainDeputy Directorate-General for Coastal ProtectionDeputy Directorate-General for Sea ProtectionDirectorate-General forBiodiversity, Forests and DesertificationDeputy Directorate-General for Terrestrial and Marine BiodiversityDeputy Directorate-General for Forest Policy and Fight Against DesertificationNational Parks Autonomous Agency
List of secretaries of state OfficeholderTermGovernment1Vicente Albero6 May 199121 July 1993Felipe GonzálezJuan Carlos I2Cristina Narbona28 September 199311 May 19963Teresa Ribera22 April 200831 December 2011José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero4Federico Ramos de Armas31 December 201120 June 2015Mariano RajoyFelipe VI5Pablo Saavedra Inaraja27 June 201524 December 20166María García Rodríguez24 December 201619 June 20187Hugo Morán Fernández19 June 2018IncumbentPedro Sánchez
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