Political Agreement to Improve Air Quality in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona
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POLITICAL AGREEMENT TO IMPROVE AIR QUALITY IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF BARCELONA Guaranteeing the quality of the air we breathe is equivalent to protecting the health of people and the environment. All around the world, metropolitan areas, which concentrate the largest part of the population, suffer problems related to pollution due to high concentrations of nitrogen oxide and suspended particles (PM10), noise, etc. Although Barcelona is not among the most vulnerable cities in this respect, its metropolitan area is affected; background concentrations of nitrogen oxide are excessively high and they need to be significantly reduced. Furthermore, despite the improvement in PM10 air quality levels during recent years, it is still necessary to increase actions to reduce the existing values. Studies conducted over the years and work carried out jointly with other European cities facing similar problems have shown that in the case of Barcelona, urban pollution is due to structural causes and so the measures to be taken must also be structural. It should furthermore be considered that brief episodes of high pollution are generated occasionally, the elimination of which requires a rapid and specific response; however, the real challenge of air quality in the territorial sphere of 40 municipalities in the Barcelona urban area (hereinafter, Àmbit-40) is to gradually reduce ordinary levels to the values recommended by the WHO. Given the complexity of the sources of air pollution and the dispersion of remits in dealing with the causes, the action taken by the Government of Catalonia to reach the goals set in the plan are insufficient and the active involvement of local and metropolitan administrations is essential, as well as the responsible collaboration of the Spanish State. For this reason, in September 2014, the Government of Catalonia approved an Air Quality Improvement Action Plan implementing a series of actions across all sectors and the mobility sector in particular, in Àmbit-40. Local administrations set up strategies to improve air quality within the scope of their remits, including Barcelona City Council's Plan for Improving Air Quality in Barcelona for 2015-2018 and Programme of Measures to Prevent Air Pollution (2017-2020) , the Metropolitan Programme of Measures to Prevent Air Pollution in Barcelona Metropolitan Area (2017- 2020) , air quality improvement plans for municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants in protected-atmosphere urban zones (ZUAPs) and the Supramunicipal Action Plan to Improve Air Quality in Vallès Oriental , which comprise 17 municipalities. The nature of this challenge requires the coordination and cooperation of the administrations involved. Only in this way, by combining the action capacities of everyone, will it be possible to achieve the established air quality objectives. This document represents the mutual commitment to citizens to set up common objectives and a common drive framework through which 1 THE CATALAN GOVERNMENT AGREES TO IMPLEMENT THE FOLLOWING INITIATIVES WITH THE CONSENSUS OF OTHER AUTHORITIES: a) Coordinated strategies of information, awareness and environmental education will be established to engage citizens, allowing them to become active, committed players in changing mobility habits to reduce emissions and improve air quality, with the aim of preserving the health of people and the environment. b) Reduction of at least 10% in pollutant emissions related to road traffic within Àmbit-40 within the next five years in order to obtain a global reduction of 30% within 15 years and gradually reach the levels recommended by the WHO. However, in areas where it is currently detected that air quality levels are exceeded, there will be an acceleration in the implementation of more intensive local measures to reach the levels set by the EU by December 2020. c) In structural terms, on roads controlled by the Catalan Traffic Service, the Government of Catalonia will progressively impose the prohibition to drive older vehicles in the Àmbit-40 area. Specifically, starting 1 January 2019 and barring weekends and public holidays, the following vehicles cannot be driven in this area: I. Vans (N1) registered before Euro 1. II. Passenger cars (M1) registered on or before Euro1. d) In the event of high pollution episodes declared by the Government of Catalonia: a. From 1 December 2017, the Government of Catalonia will impose restrictions on driving the following vehicles on roads controlled by the Catalan Traffic Service in the Àmbit-40 area: I. Vans (N1) registered before to Euro 1. II. Passenger cars (M1) registered on or before Euro1. b. Actions will be taken in relation to mobility supply and demand through the following hierarchy of objectives: I. Reduction of mobility with the recommendation to postpone unnecessary journeys. II. Mobility de-concentration to plan rush hours and make better use of existing resources. III. Change from the use of private vehicles to public transport, which will be given maximum operational capacity by City Council and Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) operators (TMB and CITY BUS) and Government of Catalonia operators (suburban and regional, FGC, TRAM and INTERCITY BUS). c. To optimise coordination of the activities, the affected institutions will approve an action protocol by 1 July 2017 regulating the following aspects among others: 2 I. activities to be carried out by each authority for each alert level and coordination thereof, as applicable; II. mechanisms to activate public transport reinforcement measures by the different operators, with the coordination of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM); III. implementation by the ATM of a special travel pass to attract new passengers during high pollution episodes; and IV. communication channels and messages between all the affected institutions and coordination of communications with the population. e) More severe restrictions may be imposed locally in structural terms and in the event of high pollution episodes, depending on the needs of each municipality, through the implementation of protected-atmosphere urban zones (ZUAPs) in cities, a low emission zone on the ring roads of Barcelona, territorial protected-atmosphere zones and a low emission metropolitan zone. Local administrations and the AMB will define these zones and their implementation schedule in 2017. f) Incentives will be offered to encourage the replacement of vehicles with low emission vehicles through aid, toll station or road tax deductions, promotion of eco-labelling and facilitating the creation of charging stations for electric vehicles and vehicles propelled by other alternative fuels. In addition, public authority vehicles will gradually become more ecologically-friendly. These activities must be coordinated and set out in a five- year plan to be submitted no later than 1 July 2017 with the aim of promoting an increase in the number of zero emission or eco-labelled vehicles. g) Investments in public transport infrastructures in the Àmbit-40 area will be prioritised in line with their impact on air quality. In this regard: I. In the review of the Master Plan for Infrastructures (PDI) 2011-2020 to be carried out by the ATM in 2017, a criterion will be included for evaluating the impact of the pending scheduled work on air quality improvement. II. In preparing the PDI 2021-2030, which will be drafted starting in 2019, the main criterion established in planning public transport infrastructures will be their contribution to improving air quality. h) Priority will be attached to mobility planning in local and metropolitan institutions in Àmbit- 40 on the basis of their contribution to air quality improvement. The review of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region Mobility Master Plan (pdM 2019-2025), which the ATM will initiate in 2017, will include measures to meet the objectives established in this Agreement and to establish the definition of the guidelines to be followed by planning levels of a less important scope. i) The generated mobility studies, mandatory in city planning processes, will include a chapter on the impact on air quality of estimated project demand forecasts and compensatory measures proposed for that purpose. 3 j) The following activities will be promoted to engage companies in reducing mobility in private vehicles moving in or heading towards Àmbit-40: I. Business organisations will be asked to sign the Air Quality Improvement Agreement. II. Agreements will be signed with companies with more than 500 employees in the Àmbit-40 area for them to draft the corresponding corporate mobility plans including measures that attach priority to reducing pollutant emissions into the air before the end of 2017. III. Approval of a good practices guide before 1 September 2017 to reduce commuting in private vehicles among employees when high pollution episodes are declared. k) Drafting of a white paper on good logistics practices aimed at rationalising the delivery of goods in urban areas, including measures related to vehicles and vehicle emissions, harmonisation of regulations, delivery and collection of goods, optimisation of spaces and logistical means and the intensive use of new technologies, through a specific agenda of joint actions organised by different administrations, with the consensus of the sector. It will be submitted in 2017 for implementation in 2018-2019. l) Ad hoc task forces will be set up by Barcelona City Council, AMB, the Association of Municipalities for Mobility and Urban Transport (AMTU) and the Government of