On April 28, it was announced that Barcelona had been chosen by the European Commission, among the nearly 400 candidate cities, to be part of the European mission 100 smart and climate-neutral cities by 2030. The fact of being part of the list of cities, of which seven are Spanish, is a recognition of Barcelona’s commitment to the fight against climate change, with the implementation of policies such as the Climate Plan, the Declaration of Climate Emergency and the adaptation of the 2030 Agenda in the city of Barcelona .
The call launched by the European Commission, through the Cities Mission, and in which Barcelona presented itself last January -the candidacy was worked on by the Third Deputy Mayor’s Office, responsible for the 2030 Agenda, and the Department of Climate Emergency-, has made it possible to select 100 cities that aspire to be climate neutral by the year 2030, with the aim of turning them into centers of experimentation and innovation, thus helping all European cities to reach that goal by 2050.
The European Commission has followed a rigorous procedure to evaluate the proposals and select the cities. The result is a very solid and diverse list, which includes cities from each and every one of the Member States of the European Union. This diversity will be very important in paving the way for all cities to be climate neutral by 2050.
According to the third deputy mayor of the Barcelona City Council, Laia Bonet, “it is a very important recognition of the work carried out to achieve the 2030 Agenda. It positions our city as an international benchmark in the fight against climate change and, at the same time, making a city socially fairer and generating shared progress, and it gives us strength to continue working to guarantee a sustainable future in Barcelona”. “With the current war in Ukraine, we are seeing how urgent it is to end the dependency on fossil energy, advance the 2030 Agenda and the energy transition and become more sustainable and climate neutral,” she added.