Puerto Rico’s Climate Change Committee Left Powerless by Politics and Lack of Funding

With no operating budget, three vacancies left by the resignation of half its scientific members, and not a single meeting held in nine months, the Committee of Experts and Advisors on Climate Change (CEACC) has been left powerless. Created by law, the committee is tasked with conducting educational workshops, supporting environmental initiatives, collaborating with municipalities, and establishing resilience strategies, while also monitoring implementation of the Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience Plan (PMEACC).

In an interview with the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI), two of the committee’s three permanent members, Rafael Méndez Tejeda and Carl-Axel Soderberg, said the group has been virtually inoperative since the new administration took office this year. They blamed the lack of quorum and repeated absences or cancellations, particularly by its chairman, Waldemar Quiles Pérez, who is also head of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA in Spanish). Quiles canceled one meeting he had convened and failed to attend another.

The committee was created under Act 33 of 2019, which requires a majority vote during a meeting attended by at least five of its nine members. Currently, the remaining permanent members are meteorologist Ada Monzón, professor Méndez Tejeda, and policy advisor Soderberg. Ex officio members include the DRNA secretary, University of Puerto Rico (UPR) President Zayira Jordán Conde, and Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC, in Spanish) Secretary Sebastián Negrón Reichard.

“We’ve asked the Natural Resources secretary for several meetings, and we haven’t been able to meet,” Méndez Tejeda said. “He doesn’t even know the members of the committee because he’s never shown up,” added the professor in the Natural Sciences Department at UPR-Carolina.

DRNA press officer Raúl Colón said agency staff had interacted with committee members. However, he did not answer whether the secretary had convened or communicated directly with them.

Under Act 33 of 2019, the governor is required to fill the three scientific vacancies on the CEACC, with appointments subject to the advice and consent of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

La Fortaleza press officer Mareli Padró Raldiris did not specify when the new members would be appointed.

“The governor is evaluating all boards and committees, including the one on climate change,” she said.

No Money to Operate

On top of the lack of quorum caused by recent resignations and chronic absenteeism among agency heads, the committee also faces a funding shortfall. The DRNA press officer acknowledged to CPI that the committee has not been allocated a single dollar.

In the past fiscal year, which ended June 30, the committee’s budget was $809,000.

Act 33 requires the Office of Management and Budget (OGP, in Spanish) to allocate the necessary funding for CEACC operations through the DRNA, which serves as its fiscal agent. In a written statement to the Senate, the OGP said it is the responsibility of government agencies to request funding for their initiatives, and the DRNA had not submitted any request for the committee.

In its own written statement, the DRNA argued it did not request funds for the committee because Act 33 does not set a minimum allocation. “No minimum amount was established to be assigned, despite the broad duties and responsibilities given to it,” the agency said.

“Every time we’ve been called to respond to a situation and had to bring in technical experts, we’ve been there,” said Méndez Tejeda. “That staff is paid [through professional service contracts], but right now there are no funds to pay them.”

Push for Permanent Funding Stalls

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, along with Sen. Ada Álvarez Conde, introduced a measure to grant CEACC a permanent annual budget of at least $500,000. The bipartisan bill was not approved during the last session, which ended June 30.

Álvarez Conde told the CPI she did not know why the Rules and Calendar Committee —chaired by Rivera Schatz— sent the measure back to the Tourism and Natural Resources Committee. She also said she has no idea when it will be brought to a vote, although, according to the Unified Legislative Procedures System, it was once again referred to Rules and Calendar this week.

“It depends on Thomas Rivera Schatz to bring it [to a vote],” Álvarez Conde said.

Oceanographer Maritza Barreto Orta, a member of the original committee, recalled how difficult it was to go from agency to agency in search of funds to develop the Climate Change Plan. She said the committee even met with the Financial Oversight and Management Board to identify the resources needed to operate.

“It was a mistake to put us under the Natural Resources (Department) because administratively it was complicated,” Barreto Orta said. “When you look at how the finances were managed, it was an uphill battle.”

Legislature Sidesteps Responsibility for Climate Plan

In August, the environmental group El Puente filed a mandamus lawsuit against the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Joint Commission on Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience for failing to comply with Act 33. The law requires lawmakers to review the Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience Plan submitted last year by the CEACC.

Last year, environmental organizations pressed the Legislature to act on the plan, which outlines initiatives to confront the impacts of the climate crisis in Puerto Rico. The previous Senate leadership, under Popular Democratic Party (PPD) President José Luis Dalmau, did not take up the document. At the time, Dalmau said he did not have time to read the lengthy report before the end of the legislative session and argued the Legislature had until June 2025 for final approval —leaving the matter to the current Assembly, now controlled by the New Progressive Party (PNP), which has taken the same course.

In response to El Puente’s lawsuit, the Legislature requested dismissal. It argued that lawmakers have taken steps regarding the plan, that El Puente lacks legal standing to compel action, and that the judiciary cannot intervene in political matters belonging to the other branches of government. El Puente filed a motion Monday opposing the dismissal.

In early February, Sen. Marissa Jiménez Santori, then newly appointed chairwoman of the Joint Commission on Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience, told the CPI that she was still hiring advisers and appointing the senators who would form the commission. She said reviewing the plan would be a priority and added, “The governor is aware, and has been since she was resident commissioner, of the climate change situation, of the concerns and the problems we face with coastal erosion across Puerto Rico.”

In response to complaints from CEACC members, Jiménez Santori told the CPI she expects the plan to be approved by November. She said the Senate is considering amending the document so that its focus shifts more toward adaptation than mitigation. Mitigation addresses the root causes of the climate crisis, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy, while adaptation seeks to manage and reduce existing impacts through measures like building infrastructure to withstand sea-level rise, planting more resilient crops, or developing stronger disaster response plans.

Jiménez Santori also said lawmakers want to reconsider community relocation measures given their social implications.

“We hope to present it before this session ends,” said Jiménez Santori, who also chairs the Joint Committee on Tourism, Natural Resources and the Environment.

Attorney Corally Rosado Rivera was appointed executive director of the Joint Commission on Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience. Members of the commission include Lisie Burgos, Adriana Gutiérrez, María de Lourdes Santiago, and Ada Álvarez Conde. The commission is made up of 14 representatives and senators appointed by the presidents of both legislative chambers.

Rejected Bill Could Have Kept Committee Afloat

Representative Denis Márquez Lebrón introduced a measure in the previous legislative term that, if enacted, he said would have prevented the current deadlock at the CEACC.

The bill would have required the committee’s chair to be a scientist, rather than a representative of the executive branch, as is the case now.

According to Márquez, the proposal was rejected because the previous Legislature lacked interest in environmental issues and in the committee itself. He noted that the bill was introduced at the request of the CEACC.

“If the [committee] chair were a permanent scientific member, I am convinced the meetings would be convened and resignations would have been avoided,” Márquez said.

Environmental researcher Pablo Méndez Lázaro, a former member of the committee, agreed on the importance of ensuring that the chair is a scientific member.

“Every time there was a political or administrative change, the committee was left leaderless,” he said.

This translation was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and clarity.