Article
Covenant of Mayors make green pledge for cleaner cities
Environment - 11-02-2009 - 12:29
Photo gallery
Lidköping - Sweden - Mr Kjell Hedvall
Other photos
- Deputy Mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia- Portugal -Mr Marco António Costa: "We have made some changes in the buildings we construct and we have new energy schemes."
- Lassee- Austria -Mr Karl Grammanitsch: "We think that sustainable work in the city is for the youth and for the future. It's very good to be independent from other parts of the world in terms of energy."
- Trezzano sul Naviglio - Italy -Ms Liana Scundi: "We have pedestrianised the city centre so there are no cars. We have created a lot of green space around the river as part of the Metrobosco (Metropolitan forest) project."
- Deputy Mayor of Bielsko-Biala - Poland - Mr Zbigniew Michniowski: "We must start with education and information about CO2. It is very dangerous at the moment and I want my city to be a city of clear air, water and soil."
- Ptolemaida - Greece - Mr Grigorios Tsioumaris: "We have a district heating system. It saves the area 42,000 tons of C02, It is something extraordinary."
- Mataró - Spain - Mr Joan Antoni Baron: "We also have the 'green tube': a heat distribution system, which uses the waste heat from the drying of sewage sludge. It currently heats swimming pools, a hospital, 4 schools and 2 sports centres."
Over 350 cities across Europe have made a green pledge to make a 20% cut in CO2 emissions by 2020. The "Covenant of Mayors" pledge was made Tuesday 10 February at the European Parliament. Each city will now draw up a sustainable energy action plan over the next 12 months. At the ceremony we asked a number of Mayors their views.
So far cities from 23 EU members have signed up including Paris, Brussels, Rome, Stuttgart, Barcelona and Nottingham. Non EU signatories have also joined including Zurich in Switzerland, Tuzla-Istanbul in Turkey, Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lviv in the Ukraine.
The network of green cities is an initiative of the European Commission and will strive to promote low carbon environments for their citizens whilst encouraging viable alternatives to polluting practices. Participating countries will have to declare 12 month energy plans and then give the Commission and their citizens updates every 2 years on their progress.
Over 350 Mayors have pledged their cities to the covenant. These Mayors were invited to the Parliament 10 February for the official signing of the covenant in the hope that they can act as inspiration for further European cities to join.
Towns in this slideshow: population
- Vila Nova de Gaia - 310,000
- Bielsko-Biala - 177,000
- Mataró - 120,000
- Ptolemaida - 35,000
- Lidköping - 25,000
- Trezzano sul Naviglio - 19,000
- Lassee - 2,500
We asked a number of Mayors: What steps have you taken to make your city green?
REF.: 20090206STO48708