Secretary of State for Environment (Spain)

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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:^[6]

The relationship between environmental policy and housing, understood here in the broad sense of "human habitat", must be guided by environmental considerations relating to building standards, wastewater treatment, selective collection of urban waste, energy consumption in domestic heating, and the integration of natural spaces within the city. Therefore, housing policy cannot be limited to financing access to housing, whether for ownership or rental, but must instead constitute a fundamental element of a comprehensive urban ecology policy, in which the quality of construction and respect for the environment are promoted within the framework of urban development

In May 1996, new prime minister José María Aznar created for the first time a Ministry of Environment^[7] 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.^[8]

In 2001, the Spanish Office for Climate Change was established^[9][10] 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.^[11] 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—,^[12] and since 2018 is part of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.^[13][14][15]

As of 2026, this is the current organization of the State Secretariat:^[1]