More of 200 municipalities, councils, federations of municipalities and environmental public entities have already registered for the first national meeting of the Covenant of Mayors that organizes the Valencia Provincial Council, in collaboration with the Office of the Covenant of Mayors of Brussels, and who will host the next Thursday, November 11, the Palau de les Arts. Those who have not yet completed their registration to participate in this day of fight against climate change from the municipalities, can do so through the link https://www.dival.es/es/medi-ambient/content/encuentro-nacional-pacto-de-las-alcaldias-valencia
Between the already confirmed attendees we find town halls from cities like Valencia, Zaragoza, Pamplona, Murcia and Alicante; councils such as Malaga, Jaén and Tarragona, just like him town hall of Santa Cruz de Tenerife; environmental entities of Madrid, Bilbao, Gijón and A Coruña; and a long list of consistories of the province.
The Covenant of Mayors is the world’s largest movement of cities that have voluntarily made a commitment to act against climate change. The signatory municipalities undertake to achieve, and even exceed, the objectives of the European Union in terms of climate and energy.
A total of 300 mayors and mayors have been invited to participate in an event that is aimed mainly at those responsible for local administrations throughout Spain, with the aim of “publicizing the new challenges of climate neutrality for the year 2050, the connection between the Covenant of Mayors and the Green New Deal of the European Commission, the new community budget and the proposal to include energy poverty in municipal plans on climate and energy “, as explained by the vice president and head of the Environment area of the Provincial Council, Maria Josep Amigó.
The Diputación, coordinator in the province
The Diputació de València, as coordinator of the pact in the province, has the function of getting the initiative to the local authorities to promote their adherence, as well as providing the signatories with the technical, economic, administrative and political assistance necessary to reach their commitments. The great increase in Valencian mayors that have joined this initiative since 2015 is striking, when there were only 17 local entities registered, currently a total of 242 municipalities.
During the day, which will be attended by the president of the Diputació, Toni Gaspar, and the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition, Mireia Molla, the provincial corporation will show the joint work carried out in recent years by local administrations, when putting into practice the municipal climate action plans. This is an example of success since, with the coordination of the Provincial Council, Valencia is one of the regions that has grown the most at the level of adhered municipalities throughout Europe.
During the ceremony at the Palau de les Arts there will be a symbolic signing of the new objectives of the Pact for 2050, by means of which the municipalities and the provinces and regions that want will be able to show the desire to adhere to the new objectives of climate neutrality of the European Union.
Reduce CO₂ emissions
Cities are home to a growing majority of the world’s population and generate around three-quarters of the world’s energy consumption and 70% of carbon dioxide emissions. Municipalities have the responsibility to act in relation to the major sources of these emissions, in particular transport and energy consumption, and their involvement is essential to achieve objectives such as reducing CO₂ emissions by 40% by 2030, improving energy efficiency, using renewable energy sources in their territories and developing measures to adapt to the consequences of climate change.
The Covenant of Mayors currently has more than 7,000 local and regional authorities from different countries that take advantage of the strengths of a movement that involves multiple actors. The scope of action has even been opened to the rest of the continents, since it is a global problem and the achievements obtained show that these instruments work. In this sense, European funds will be increasingly linked to climate change objectives, hence the importance of a meeting that will serve to exchange experiences between municipalities throughout Spain.
–
