Traffic restrictions will come this year to all Spanish cities: dozens of cities are already preparing their own low emission zones (ZBE). The Climate Change Law approved in 2021 obliges the 149 localities with more than 50,000 inhabitants —and those with more than 20,000 more polluted— to create one of these areas before the end of this year. “The vast majority of them have been working intensely on this matter since the beginning of the year,” confirms a spokesperson for the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). The Ministry of Transport explains that it subsidizes 62 actions to install LEZs in as many cities, while the Ministry of Ecological Transition advances that it will issue a decree in the coming weeks to regulate the characteristics of these areas.
The ZBE are areas —located mostly in the center of cities— in which access to the most polluting vehicles —the oldest— is prohibited to improve air quality. For this, it is taken into account the tag system of the General Directorate of Traffic: gasoline cars registered before 2000 and diesel before 2006 do not have a label. Label B corresponds to gasoline cars between 2000 and 2006 and diesel cars from 2006 to 2013. Label C corresponds to gasoline cars after 2006 and diesel cars after 2014. Eco: hybrids in general. Zero: electric or hybrid with a range of more than 40 kilometers. There are more than 300 similar areas in as many European cities; the last to announce his has been Paris.
The Spanish municipalities continue with their plans to install their own ZBE despite the obstacles that the first restricted traffic areas installed in Spain, in Madrid and Barcelona, have suffered in the courts. The recent ruling on the Catalan capital does not alter the plans to move forward. “The sentence is not final, it is appealable. And we have not received inquiries for this reason either, ”says a spokesman for the FEMP, which brings together more than 7,400 entities (mostly municipalities, but also councils and councils). The localities understand that the regulation of the Ministry of Ecological Transition grants sufficient legal certainty to create new ZBEs and that is why the vast majority are already working on it.
In any case, a spokesperson for Ecological Transition confirms that the department headed by Teresa Ribera “is working on a draft decree that will be made public soon to ensure compliance with the values contained in the law.” So far, the cities have a guide of recommendations —prepared between the ministry and the FEMP— that do not determine that these restricted traffic areas must have a minimum extension, although they indicate that they must cover a “significant” area that allows reducing traffic. pollution. The idea is that this decree specifies the specific characteristics that the new low emission zones must meet.
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Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Transport explains that 62 Spanish cities have obtained subsidies to establish their restricted traffic areas, as well as another 30 complementary actions for their implementation or reinforcement of those already in existence. Raquel Sánchez’s department allocates just over 100 million euros of the 1,000 provided by European Next Generation funds for sustainable mobility (The rest goes to pedestrian areas, bike lanes, electric buses…).
Among the beneficiary capitals are Valencia, San Sebastián, Granada, Cuenca, Salamanca, Vitoria, Cádiz, Castellón, Tenerife, Burgos, León, Pamplona, Alicante… Smaller cities are also included, such as Viladecans (Barcelona) or Linares ( Jaen). All of them, and many others, will have a restricted traffic area throughout the year. Transport will finance up to 90% of the costs of these actions, with a minimum amount of 200,000 euros per initiative. In addition, throughout this year there will be another item of 500 million with which ZBE can also be financed, in addition to other sustainable mobility actions.
Restrictions on entire islands
In the Balearic Islands, the executive of the community studies that each one of the islands, in its entirety, be a low emission zone, reports Clara Blanche. The Vice President of the Balearic Government, Juan Pedro Yllanes, explained last Thursday during a visit to Barcelona that the Climate Change Law contemplates restricting entire islands to the most polluting vehicles. “The simplest, due to size, would be to start with Formentera. And then Menorca, which is a biosphere reserve and where the feeling of being a fragile space is most deeply rooted”, he argued during a visit to the Barcelona City Council. Yllanes also referred to the municipality of Eivissa (which has more than 50,000 inhabitants). More complex, he recognized, would be the case of Mallorca.
In addition, the Law on Sustainable Mobility and Financing of Transport, which Transport took to the Council of Ministers in February, opens the door for municipalities to go further and establish, if they wish, a rate for the circulation of vehicles in areas low emissions. The so-called “congestion charge” is already applied in some European cities such as Stockholm, Oslo, Gothenburg (Sweden), Milan and London, and consists of vehicles having to pay to access the central area of the city – with some exceptions, such as those of residents or delivery men. In London, for example, the daily amount is already 15 pounds (about 18 euros), a figure that has been increasing in recent years.
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