The city of Alba Iulia in Romania, partner of EURE, officially joined the European Commission’s Green City Accord last June. By doing so, Alba Iulia is now part of the 50 European cities that are willing to adopt even more ambitious environmental protection targets, going above and beyond the minimum requirements set by EU laws, to be achieved by 2030.
Signatory cities agree to step up their efforts in five key areas:
- air: significant improvement in air quality by moving closer to respecting the WHO’s air quality guidelines and ending exceedances of EU air quality standards as soon as possible
- water: making significant progress in improving the quality ofwater bodies and the efficiency of water use
- nature and biodiversity: considerable progress in conserving and enhancing urban biodiversity, including through an increase in the extent and quality of green areas in cities, and by halting the loss of and restoring urban ecosystems
- circular economy and waste: advance towards the circular economy by securing a significant improvement in the management of household municipal waste, an important reduction in waste generation and landfilling, and a substantial increase in re-use, repair and recycling
- noise: significantly reducing noise pollution in cities and moving closer to WHO recommended levels
In each of these areas, signatories commit to:
- establishing baseline levels and setting ambitious targets that go beyond minimum requirements set by EU laws within two years of signing
- implementing policies and programmes in an integrated manner, to achieve their targets by 2030 reporting on implementation and progress every three years.
For more information on the Accord, visit its website.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/news/fifty-cities-commit-going-above-and-beyond-environment-2021-06-07_en
