Porto unanimously approves Climate Action Plan

Porto City Council's executive unanimously approved the Climate Action Plan this Monday, after it incorporated five suggestions received during the public consultation period.

Speaking to reporters after the private executive meeting, Councilman Filipe Araújo, responsible for the Environment and Climate Transition, considered this a "very important" plan for the city, which "has already understood what climate change means," recalling the floods that affected several homes on islands in Fontainhas in early 2023. "It's a comprehensive plan that includes these measures, and for which we 're targeting an investment of approximately 1.7 billion euros over the coming years," he added.

CDU councilor Joana Rodrigues stated that this plan was “quite consensual” and recalled that, at any time, it can be changed, if necessary .

Sérgio Aires, of the Left Bloc, acknowledged that he might have done things differently if he had been involved in drafting the plan, but that he would never deviate from the version approved this Monday. "The Climate Action Plan is a good example of how a municipal strategy should be defined," he praised .

Social Democrat Mariana Ferreira Macedo welcomed the plan's public consultation and noted that, regarding mobility, the PSD proposes free public transportation for Porto residents. During the public consultation, which ran from May 6th to June 16th, the "Porto Municipal Climate Action Plan (PMAC)" received five submissions, resulting in 33 suggestions , five of which were "considered and integrated as new measures in the PMAC," according to documents attached to the proposal, which Lusa had access to.

The proposals considered involve changes to the document's wording on points related to hydrogen and the electrification of transportation; suggestions for encouraging short circuits for healthy and sustainable food production; suggestions for expanding the pedestrianization strategy to areas other than exclusively tourist areas; measures related to monitoring the implementation of this plan; and a study of creating incentives for the permeability of public spaces and the interior of city blocks.

The plan will now go to a vote in the Municipal Assembly.

The Climate Action Plan defines the main lines of action to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and increase climate resilience, divided into two chapters: adaptation and mitigation .

In the adaptation chapter, the plan defines seven objectives , namely increasing the protection of natural risk zones and vulnerable areas, promoting the adaptation of public and private buildings, increasing the resilience of public spaces, improving the efficiency of the urban water cycle, increasing the efficiency of the city's warning and emergency systems, improving people's safety and health conditions, and increasing climate literacy.

To achieve these objectives, the municipality plans to invest €450 million , of which €174 million will go to public spaces, €120 million to risk areas, and €112 million to the water cycle.

In the mitigation and, consequently, decarbonization chapter, the plan defines 25 objectives in the areas of energy systems, mobility and transport, environment, waste and circular economy, and green infrastructure and natural-based solutions.

An investment of over 1.7 billion euros is defined for mitigation , with the municipality investing 423 million euros between 2019 and 2023, as explained by Filipe Araújo in April, when he presented the plan to the executive before it went out for public consultation.

The Municipal Climate Action Plan is a result of the Climate Framework Law, which established the obligation for municipalities to have a municipal climate action plan.