- Highlights the importance of achieving greater deployment of electric vehicles
- It considers that administrations must ensure that sustainable mobility is integrated into territorial planning and urban planning
- It underlines the need to promote a change in behaviour in society to choose more sustainable means of transport
The Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, has stressed the need to change the way we move around cities to achieve sustainable urban development. For the minister, this change in transport is a challenge, but it also offers great opportunities.
Isabel García Tejerina today presented the awards for Best Practice in Sustainable Mobility, a joint initiative of the Club of Excellence and the Renault Foundation that this year celebrates its fourth edition.
During his speech, García Tejerina pointed out that, according to United Nations data, cities produce 70% of the world’s GDP, consume around 60% of energy and are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions and waste generated each year in the world.
Therefore, the minister understands that it is not possible to consolidate sustainable development without transforming the way we build, manage and use urban spaces. As he specified, the efforts of the international community are in this direction, whether in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the recent Paris Agreement or the United Nations Habitat III Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, to be held in Quito in October.
SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
As he commented, all these international forums seek to reach political commitments of global scope, aimed at achieving sustainable urban development, where a change in the transport model is necessary.
For García Tejerina, improving the efficiency of vehicles, decarbonising fuels, using intelligent systems and promoting the transfer towards more efficient and environmentally friendly modes are areas in which progress is already possible.
In this sense, García Tejerina has highlighted the importance of achieving a greater implementation of electric vehicles, where the Renault Group has been demonstrating its capabilities.
For their part, administrations must ensure that sustainable mobility is integrated into territorial planning and urban planning. In this context, García Tejerina cited, among the initiatives supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment, the Spanish Sustainable Mobility Strategy, the Metropolitan Mobility Observatory or the European Mobility Week.
The minister also referred to the promotion of the National Plan for Air Quality and Protection of the Atmosphere 2013-2016 (Plan AIRE), as the main backbone instrument in this area, which has been developed through the Plan for the Promotion of the Environment (PIMA Aire), with four editions and a total endowment of 53 million euros.
FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
On the other hand, García Tejerina has stressed the efforts carried out in the last four years in the fight against climate change. In this way, Spain complies with the Kyoto Protocol and has a large number of innovative mitigation initiatives underway to meet the 2020 targets.
Among these initiatives, the minister mentioned the Climate Projects, the National Carbon Footprint Registry or the Roadmap in diffuse sectors, with 43 measures to reduce emissions in sectors such as transport. Also included are participatory projects such as “One million climate commitments”, to involve society in the fight against climate change, something that is essential to promote a change in behaviour when choosing more sustainable means of transport.
In this context, García Tejerina referred to the award-winning projects in this edition of the awards for Best Practice in Sustainable Mobility, whose innovative and effective actions will contribute to achieving more sustainable mobility.
