Madrid to halve traffic emissions by 2030

In a bid to crackdown on air pollution, Madrid’s city government has announced a plan that includes the creation in 2018 of a “zero emissions zone” in the entire city centre open only to residents’ vehicles, taxis and deliveries.

The speed limit on Madrid’s peripheral motorways will be reduced to 70 km/h, and the major arteries in the area inside the peripheral motorways will be redesigned by 2019 to give priority to pedestrians, bikes and public transport. Madrid’s bus fleet will be 100% low-emission by 2020, all new taxis will be electric or low-emission from 2018 and fiscal, access and parking incentives will gradually be introduced for electric and low-emission vehicles from 2018 to 2025.

Further measures to tackle emissions from the residential and office sector include a ban on coal-fired heating systems from 2020, the regulation of biomass heating, and fiscal and other incentives to promote energy-efficient boilers and solar and geothermal electricity production. The plan has a budget of €544 million from 2017 to 2020.

Source: Ends Europe Daily, 15 March 2017.

 

In this issue