Barcelona will allocate 563 million to reduce CO ₂ emissions by two million tons

Barcelona has officially declared this Wednesday the climate emergency with a package of 103 actions that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030 (taking as a reference 1992, the first year of which the city has records, as requested by the movements for the climate). In total, the reduction will reach two million tons of CO2, of which a quarter is to be achieved by drastically limiting the use of the car, although it does not quantify how many vehicles will stop circulating. For the entire plan, the city will invest 563 million euros extraordinary until 2025.

Among the main actions planned are from the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE, already underway) to veto the most polluting cars, to multiply by five (up to 15 square kilometers) the spaces of restricted traffic, limit circulation in more than half of streets to 30 kilometers per hour, or create squares in front of the schools of the city and 10 new parks or “green axes”.

“We wanted it not to be a rhetorical declaration, but a document of measures that mark a before and after,” said Mayor Ada Colau, during the act of declaring the emergency, in the solemn Saló de Cent of the City Council and before representatives of the participating entities. The councilor recalled the words of Greta Thunberg: “This is not a simulation, the house is on fire”, an expression used by the communication campaign with which the statement will be disseminated. Colau also recalled that cities are the main sources of emissions and said that “defending climate justice is defending democracy.” “We are running out of time and there are no shortcuts,” he added.

“Gain space for the car”, has defended as an objective the deputy mayor of Urbanism, Ecology and Mobility, Janet Sanz, who has also announced that the creation of ultra-low emission zones (in very polluted or sensitive environments), or an urban toll will be studied. The declaration also contemplates multiplying by 20 the generation of solar energy on the roofs of equipment, residential buildings or even factories; and energy rehabilitation of 10,000 homes per year.

With this document, which has been worked with 200 entities of the city during the last semester, Barcelona becomes the first major Spanish city that accompanies its commitment to fight against climate change with concrete measures. Of the hundred measures, more than half (53) depend exclusively on the City Council; the rest, of the City Council and the Metropolitan Area, the Generalitat or also the State. And in some cases, also from individuals or private companies.

The declaration also has a large package of demands and demands in terms of infrastructure that do not depend only on the city. It asks for more bus lanes or high occupancy in the road accesses, investments for Cercanías, finish the L9 of the metro (an infrastructure of the Generalitat that lacks the central section) or link the two tram networks by the Avenida de la Diagonal. And it calls on the port and the airport to reduce their emissions and review their growth plans, an issue over which the City Council has no competence. In the case of the port, it depends on the State and the Generalitat, and the airport is managed by AENA.

The document deals with other issues in relation to the economic model of the city, the model of consumption, food or the health of citizens. For example, on the distribution of goods, it proposes to create a tax for the distribution of parcels from technological platforms. Also regulate street parking throughout the city, analyze the impact of tourism on sustainability, that garbage collection is individualized (to reward those who recycle the most) or move towards the elimination of single-use plastics.

And there are also actions in terms of health or food. It suggests introducing healthier diets, with local products, organic and less meat in schools; study the regulation of fast and ultra-processed food establishments near schools or create 100 “climate shelters” in municipal facilities where you can go if there is a heat wave.

On the part of the entities, at the end of the act of the declaration, Gemma Barricarte, from Fridays for Future, intervened. The activist has questioned “the deficiencies” of the participatory process from which the declaration has emerged and has warned: “The entities will be vigilant, we cannot allow delaying maneuvers for economic or electoral interests, we are fed up with a policy and an economy that have evicted a part of life.” Barricarte has also claimed the role of civil society and the scientific community in lobbying in the fight against climate change: “Neither this declaration nor the others would have been possible without the demands of the articulated and conscious society and an independent scientific community.”

Source: The Country