The Climate Movements ask the government of Barcelona for policies to address the climate emergency with the required urgency and scale
Climacció, Families For Future Barcelona, Fridays For Future Barcelona, Moviment per la Justícia Climàtica and Rebel·lió o Extinció Barcelona will participate today in the first session of the Roundtable for the Climate Emergency in Barcelona announced by the City Hall to request that the government, within two months, presents the main measures to deal with the climate emergency in the mandate of 2019-2023, with the urgency and scale required, showing the emission reduction calculation that each measure will achieve. Even so, they call for the formation of an emergency committee for its implementation that reports directly to the mayor’s office.
They consider that the declaration of the state of climate emergency implies priority end decision on the specific government policies that cannot be delegated to a co-production space with diverse actors in four sessions, following the same sterile participative outline of other tables that tend to end up hiding conflicts under false consensus. They recognize that the Roundtable could strengthen this process as a space for social participation to guarantee the transparency and accountability of government action, they insist, though, not as a substitute for it. That is why they ask for it to be rethought in the following way:
- Participation of social agents and independent scientific experts who represent the general interest. Exclusion of business lobbies that represent private interests and the fossil fuel economy, as is the case of some members of Barcelona + Sostenible.
- That the role of the Roundtable is to monitor the implementation of the measures and their results, as well as to present proposals for possible new measures or forms of implementation.
Last Friday, on the occasion of the world climate strike, they met with the mayoress to have her answer on the demands presented last July and they saw good disposition, but without sufficient concrete outcomes. The groups consider that the starting point proposed by the City Council last July, the 2018-2030 Climate Plan, the Barcelona Urban Mobility Plan and the 10 measures to be carried out in 6 months will have little impact on reducing emissions and indicate improvisation. The Climate Plan does not include the objective of a 40% reduction in GHG emissions in relation to 1990 levels established by the European Union’s framework for action in the field of climate and energy until 2030[1], an objective which, due to the greater contribution of Barcelona’s GHG emissions, would have to achieve a 55% reduction.
The measures presented are a continuation of previous plans with no results, just like those presented in the new Barcelona Mobility Plan 2019-2024. For this reason, the groups will present in this space the 7 urgent demands that we are reclaiming in order to face the climate and ecological emergency in the city as a starting point to make a change in the current policies and subsequently be able to achieve more ambitious targets.
[1] See The Barcelona 2018-2030 Climate Plan aims to reduce GHG emissions per capita by 45% in 2030 compared to 2005, instead of the base year 1990