On the occasion of the celebration of Car-Free Day, and within the European Mobility Week, the Ministry of the Environment held last Friday the “II Conference on Urban Mobility and Emission Reduction”, with which it is intended to promote sustainable urban mobility that makes it possible to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and particles into the atmosphere from transport. which accounts for around 25% of GHG emissions, which is higher in urban environments.

Between 1990 and 2004, greenhouse gases from this sector increased by 75.6%, with road transport (passengers and goods) being the main responsible for this increase. The clear upward trend in CO2 emissions from transport stands out, mainly due to the growth in the volume of road traffic, a problem that is aggravated by the increase in congestion and the proportion of metropolitan trips by car.

Likewise, the concentration of particles in the air we breathe is still alarming in Spain, conditioned by its climatic circumstances. The situation is aggravated in urban areas, where road traffic and fuel consumption are growing rapidly. Between 2000 and 2003, the share of particulate matter due to transport increased by 4.7%, despite the introduction of catalytic converters and improvements in vehicle technology.

After the work carried out in recent years, the projects of the Mobility Week and the Car-Free Day have been consolidated and the number of municipalities adhering to the dissemination and awareness campaigns is maintained, with a total of about 17,000,000 citizens involved, which means that in this edition municipalities with a larger population have registered; in fact, the eight largest municipalities have done so in 2006. Municipalities in Extremadura and the Canary Islands have also been incorporated for the first time.