ing. gianluca cassulo

Ing. Gianluca

Cassulo

Accelerate the Transition Towards Low Carbon Economy:

Case Studies from the European Experience

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March 21-22, 2013REC - EC2 E-Learning Course

Towards a Low Carbon EconomyCase Studies from the European Experience ASURES, CASE STUDIES

Cities and greenhouse-gas emissions:

“while the World’s Cities only cover 2 % of global land area, they account for a staggering 70 % of greenhouse-gas emissions”

“Hot Cities: battle-ground for climate change”, UN-HABITAT


CITY STRATEGIESWorld Cities are studying dedicated carbon reduction strategies: Rome: Sustainable Energy Action Plan for the Rome Province (2009)London: Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy (2010 draft)Paris: Paris Climate Protection Plan (2007)New York: PlaNYC 2030 (2007) Seoul: Seoul Green VisionTokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Environmental Master Plan (2008)Sydney: City of Sydney Environmental Management Plan (2007) Cape Town: City of Cape Town Environmental Agenda 2009 - 2014 Dehli: Climate Change Agenda for Delhi 2009-2012Mexico City: Green Plan (2010)


World Cities vs. Environment and Climate Change:Biggest and most important cities worldwide are playing, through a strong commitment against climate change, a key role in environmental protection and in the implementation of sustainable global policies.

The city of Beijing:• has already implemented remarkable improvements on the city

environment and sustainability• has decided to work out a wider city’s development strategy,

aimed at building a “Green Beijing” and World City• has established an experts panel on the key topics for the

creation of smart urban solutions, focusing on environmental protection, sustainable development and climate change issues• is willing to adopt a Roadmap to strengthen the role of Beijing as

sustainable city within the international community


World City Environmental Target Study Program:In the framework of the cooperation between the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea and the Municipality of Beijing in the environmental sector, the “World City” program aims to provide strategic consultancy and policy advices to the Beijing Municipal Government in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development, to achieve the World City targets.

The multi-year study program has the aim of improving the quality of citizens life through the transformation of urban spaces, respecting the environment and creating new business opportunities in strategic sectors linked to the “Green Economy”. The lines of action focus on the key macro-areas for urban sustainability, such as policy and legislation development, strategic energy planning, sustainable mobility, water issues, waste management, ecosystem enhancement, in order to achieve the World City goals (compact city, ancient city, dynamic city, city of research and innovation).


Air Quality and Mobility:

The world is experiencing a significant urbanization process: nowadays more than 50 per cent of the global population lives in cities and, by 2030, the world will have almost 5 billion city residents – about 60 percent of the global population. These concentrations of people and activity are exerting increasing stress on the natural environment, with impacts at urban, regional and global levels. In recent decades, air pollution has become one of the most important problems in big cities. Air pollution has serious impacts on public health, causes urban and regional haze, and has the potential to contribute significantly to climate change. Mobility is one of the main sources causing air pollution.


Emissions and air quality:Air pollution in urban area comes from a wide variety of sources.

The single most important source for the main monitored pollutants (CO, PM, O3, NO2, SO2) is generally the combustion of fossil fuels, specifically for road transport and electricity and thermal energy generation.

There are three major sources of air pollution in urban areas, namely mobile sources, stationary sources, and open burning sources that can be categorized into the source groups motor traffic, industry, power plants, trade, and domestic fuel.


World Cities are studying dedicated air quality strategies: London: Mayor’s Air Quality Strategy (2010) New York: PlaNYC 2030 (2007) Seoul: Seoul Green Vision 21 - Agenda 21Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Environmental Master Plan (2008)Sydney: City of Sydney Environmental Management Plan (2007) Cape Town: City of Cape Town Environmental Agenda 2009 - 2014 Dehli: Towards Cleaner Air Mexico City: PROAIR 2011-2020 (2007)


Goal of the Pilot Project• The aim of the study is to investigate the air quality trends and

policies of a group of selected cities (World Cities Benchmark Analysis) during the last decades to better understand the current situation, and to define the challenges and the future targets of Beijing.

• The final goal of the program is to provide the city of Beijing with an Environmental Roadmap on air quality, based on the lesson learnt from the World Cities.


World Cities: Selection Criteria

Mega-cities: Population exceeding 3 million inhabitants Geographical distribution: America, Europe, AsiaEnvironmental History: long experience in fighting air pollution


Data collection:

• general features, as population, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP);

• mobility data (number of vehicles and share of use of private transport);

• energy consumption split, by sources;

• policies and actions undertaken in the last 20 years.


• Beijing has currently the lowest GMP per capita, even though the recent years trend is showing a rapid increase

• the population density of Beijing is similar to the average of the other cities

GMP

Population density

General features


• The use of private transport and population density are in inverse proportion: for example, Los Angeles presents the highest share of private transport use and the lowest value of population density.

• Beijing presents average values in number of vehicles per capita and use of private transport, even if both values trends are increasing.

Vehicles per Capita

Use of Private Transport

Urban Transport


Energy Consumption Split in World Cities

Energy consumption split

• In all cities electricity and gas account for a relevant share.

• Beijing is the only city still relying on a large amount of coal (oil fuels + coal exceeds 60% )


Pollutants Emissions Splits in World Cities

• transport constitutes one of the main pollutants emission sources.

• In Beijing the transport contribution is very low compared to the other cities. The reason is a still massive presence of industrial facilities in the city area


• Despite a relevant population increase and economic development, in World Cities most of pollutants concentrations show a significant decrease in the last twenty years.

• the decreasing trend is due to the closure of industrial facilities in urban area, to improvement of vehicles emissions standards and the modal shift from private to public transport

Cities pollutant concentrations


• In Beijing concentrations are higher than in other cities. This gap is mainly due to the extensive use of coal and the presence of large power and industrial plants in the city area.

Cities pollutant concentrations


World cities actions:

Industrymoving industrial facilities outside the city > general strategy in all cities“cleaning” the fuel used > i.e. European fuel regulationenhancing regulations and control systems on industrial emissions > i.e. Milan regulation

Buildingsreduction of emissions systems > i.e. Seoul heating and cooling systemenhancing regulations and control systems on heating > i.e. Milan regulationshift to natural gas > i.e. Milan shift to natural gas

Transportenhancing regulation and control systems on vehicles (EURO standards) > i.e. European vehicles standardsusing of economic incentives > i.e. Los Angeles incentives system“cleaning” the fuel used > i.e. European fuel regulationenhancing public transport system > i.e. Tokyo rail transport systemshift of public transportation fleet toward sustainability > i.e. London bus strategyenhancing cycling mobility > i.e. London Barclays Cycle Hire and Barclays Cycle Superhighwaysenhancing pedestrian mobility > i.e. New York pedestrian networktraffic management systems > i.e. Los Angeles traffic management systemcommunication policies > i.e. Los Angeles awareness campaign


LondonCONGESTION CHARGE SCHEME and LOW EMISSION ZONE

The Congestion Charge Scheme (CCS) was introduced in 2003. It foresees for vehicles not meeting certain emission standards a £8 charge to enter in the London most central area between 7:00 and 18:00 hrs. The Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was introduced in 2008 to encourage the most polluting vehicles driving in the Capital to become cleaner and covers most of Greater London. HGV, buses, larger vans, minibuses not meeting Euro IV emission standards for PM10 have to pay a £400 charge to enter in the city.


MilanBIKE SHARING SERVICE (BIKEMI)

Bicycles are an ecological mode of transport, practical for travelling in the city (especially in flat areas). Milan offers 144 km of bike paths where lovers of bicycles can move around safely and without polluting the city. The Bike Sharing service allows bicycles to be rented using a daily, weekly or annual pass . In Milan the service offers over 200 stations and 3650 bikes.


ParisADVANCED ALERT SYSTEM

The advanced alert system organizes a series of actions and emergency measures to reduce or eliminate the emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere in case of advanced air pollution. The objective is to limit the effects on human health and environment. The procedure provides measures restricting or suspending activities that contribute to pollution (industry and transport ), including, where appropriate, the vehicular traffic.


• Based on the actions undertaken by the World Cities, this Action Plan is a comprehensive program of integrated actions needed for the air pollution decrease in Beijing.

• The Action Plan encompasses 28 priority actions, organized in 10 measures, grouped in turn within 3 key thematic sectors.

• As the First Year Study Program focus mainly on transport sector the part of this action plan regarding this key thematic sector is more detailed.

Beijing Action Plan


• As emerging from this Benchmark Analysis outcomes, it is crucial to combine different actions to enhance air quality.


Contacts:

Ing. Gianluca CassuloD'Appolonia S.p.A.Via S. Nazaro, 19 16145 Genova - ItalyTel +39 010 3628148 E-mail [email protected]: http://www.dappolonia.it

ing. gianluca cassulo

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