To improve air quality and to promote sustainable development are both priorities of the government of Bogotá. This is the main reason why the city recently signed the C40 Clean Air Cities Declaration: as a way to reassure the local government's commitment to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and pollutants within this metropolis.
What is C40?
C40 is a network of 96 cities committed to addressing climate change through the adoption of reforms and green policies on the local level. Currently, Bogotá is member of the Steering Committee of the organization that leads the strategic direction of the global network.
Therefore, mayor Claudia López reaffirmed the city´s compromise with C40’s declarations and announced that Bogotá will be adopting 6 main recommendations given by the organization to achieve clean air and the reduction of fossil fuels dependency.
Bogotá's new commitments:
1) To develop a Plan for Air Quality Management aiming towards 2030, in accordance with Interim target -3 of the World Health Organization Air quality guidelines.
2) To design new public policies for air quality improvement towards 2025.
3) To ensure public access to reports regarding the advancement of air quality objectives.
4) To buy only zero-emission buses from 2025 onwards.
5) To promote the transition to clean energies in cargo transportation.
6) To build Zero Emission zones in 2030.
Additionally, the city's Development Plan pursues 12 goals which comply with C40’s recommendations. These are being developed by the Secretaries for Mobility and Environment and are focused on the reduction of air and water pollutants, the development of alternative methods of transportation and in the recovery of the city's ecological structure.
In this sense mayor López stated:
‘’ Addressing climate change is a priority for Bogotá in the next 4 years. We will develop institutional infrastructure to mitigate the crisis and we will provide incentives to the private sector to achieve technology transfer to renewable energies’’
Por un aire limpio en Bogotá, nos comprometimos con @c40cities a:
— Secretaría de Ambiente 𓆉 (@Ambientebogota) July 25, 2020
👉Definir y adoptar el Plan de Gestión Integral de la Calidad del Aire de Bogotá 2030
👉Implementar políticas de aire limpio para el año 2025
👉Presentar informes públicos sobre los avanceshttps://t.co/HuvecajE88pic.twitter.com/R1BYVjuXfO