Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia sign an agreement to accelerate the progress towards climate neutrality
The city councils have signed this climate pre-contract with the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge in order to accelerate the implementation of solutions with social, economic and environmental impact. Roca Junyent has advised the citiES 2030 initiative, which promotes innovative forms of collaboration between cities, public and private entities, universities and research centres and civil society organisations to accelerate the transformation needed to achieve sustainable, healthy and resilient cities.
8 September 2021 - Yesterday the Senate held a crucial event in the transformation of Spanish cities towards climate neutrality. The Mayoress of Barcelona, and the mayors of Madrid, Seville and Valencia signed, together with the Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, an agreement to transform their cities, and accelerate the energy and ecological transition before 2030.
The agreement falls within the citiES 2030 initiative, promoted by the El Día Después (The Day After) platform, to promote innovative forms of collaboration between cities, public and private entities, universities and research centres and civil society organisations to accelerate the necessary transformation to achieve sustainable, healthy and resilient cities.
The agreement has been supported by the European Commission, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), the Spanish Green Growth Group, the Confederation of Employers and Industries of Spain (CEOE), Climate KIC and the innpulso Network (MICIIN).
In addition, the agreement is designed so that, in the coming months, other Spanish cities, administrations and public and private sector entities can join and participate. The mayors of the city councils of Arnedo, Cáceres, Lugo, Níjar, Soria, Teruel, Toledo and Vitoria also took part in the event.
Julio Lumbreras, professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and coordinator of the Cities community of the El Día Después (The Day After) platform, highlighted the importance of this agreement for the mission approved by the European Commission to achieve 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030. In his speech in the Senate, he pointed to collaboration as "a critical element to reach the cities we want". "Cities need to imagine, experiment and learn together to enforce a sustainable model".
In this agreement, the four cities commit to implement "solutions that promote equity and deliver social, economic and environmental benefits, and to design a roadmap to achieve decarbonisation and ecological transition".
About citiES 2030 initiative
citiES 2030 is an initiative for the acceleration and implementation in Spain of the Cities Mission that the European Commission launched in 2020, within the Horizon Europe programme, with the objective of reaching 100 climate neutral cities in 2030 by and for the citizens.
This mission aims to become the main instrument of the economic and social transformation that European cities will have to undertake in order to achieve the ecological transition.
The mission is based on the following elements: systemic innovation through interconnected projects; collaboration between academia, public administration, business and civil society; active citizen participation; the promotion of multilevel governance models; and the articulation of public-private financing.
In this way, it is a means to accelerate the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, as well as becoming a catalyst for the European Green Pact.
citiES 2030 is driven by the El Día Después (The Day After) platform -which includes Iberdrola, ISGlobal, Red Española para el Desarrollo Sostenible (REDS) and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid-, Roca Junyent and the city councils of more than 20 Spanish cities. It is thus constituted as a space for multi-stakeholder collaboration to demonstrate how systemic innovation and open knowledge can lead social, economic and environmental transformation.
