Toni Pérez participates in a round table on the strategies of the municipalities before the climatic change next to the mayors of Valencia and Castellón
The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, said this morning that the city has a commitment to reduce its C02 emissions by 20% through a series of measures that have already begun to implement and are set out in the Action Plan Of Sustainable Energy (PAES). The mayor has proposed to reach that goal by the year 2020 and has done so within the framework of the round table organized by the management of Levante-EMV and the FCC Environment about the challenges that the change climate present to municipalities.
The debate, moderated by the director of the Levante-EMV newspaper, Julio Monreal, closed by the vice president of the Consell, Mónica Oltra, and which was also present the Minister of Environment, Elena Cebrián, took place this morning in the Foundation Bancaja. Beside the mayor of Benidorm were invited to participate the mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó, and the mayor of Castellón, Amparo Marco.
The mayor stressed that Benidorm's commitment "to the environment, sustainable development and the fight against climate change is not only a declaration of principles or good intentions, but a whole package of concrete measures that have already begun to apply".
The first of these measures, following the adhesion to the Covenant of Mayors of the European Commission, was to produce a Reference Inventory of the C02 Emission, which placed those of Benidorm at 474,347 tonnes of CO2 per year. The aim is to reduce 95,000 tonnes a year to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020. In this sense, he stressed that Benidorm already has a lot of progress in being below the range of emissions of the Valencian Community, "an indisputable example," of The sustainability of the compact model of Benidorm ". He pointed out that Benidorm would have CO2 emissions of 2.21 Tons CO2 / inhabitant, compared to 5.19 Tn CO2 / inhabitant of the Valencian Community.
This commitment to control and reduce CO2 emissions has begun to materialize in the management of beaches, the main tourist resort of Benidorm. To achieve this, it has begun to incorporate in the maintenance and cleaning of beaches a more efficient and environmentally friendly machinery, a condition that is required in the specifications for the integral contract of the beaches.
Another action highlighted by the mayor is the implementation of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, PMUS, "which is serving to undertake an unstoppable transformation process to make a city more comfortable for the pedestrian, more friendly to the cyclist, more effective and practical For the motorist and, above all, less polluting ". He explained that in the last two years "Benidorm has developed a network of functional and meshed cyclist infrastructure for the main roads of the city, which this summer will reach the number of 70 kilometers of lanes reserved for cyclists."
Toni Pérez also referred to the management of water resources as "another fundamental element in the conservation of the environment," and in that sense recalled that the efficiency of the water distribution network is over 95% and reuses 3 hm3 , The equivalent of more than 3040 olympic swimming pools in the irrigation of gardens and street washing.
The mayor also developed the measures contemplated in the Plan of Action of Sustainable Energy of Benidorm and by virtue of which environmental clauses have been introduced in all the specifications of conditions that have been published to adjudge municipal services.
In the specific case of municipal buildings, the aim is to reduce CO2 emissions by 35% by 2020. Energy audits are being carried out on the most consumer buildings and the implementation of natural gas is being promoted throughout the municipality.
This energy efficiency has also been implemented in public lighting by installing luminaires with LED technology and adjusting the operating hours at each time of the year.
He also recalled that there are constant awareness campaigns on recycling and the selective collection of waste has been optimized. He pointed out that in front of the 17 kilos of glass of average per inhabitant that are recycled in the Valencian Community, or the 14 of Spain, in Benidorm that figure is of 49 kilos of recycled glass per inhabitant.
"Benidorm," he concluded, "has been on the side of those who work to stop global warming. We want to curb emissions of greenhouse gases and bet more and more on clean and renewable energy."
