The municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and to this end will develop, with the contribution of civil society, an action plan to combat the major environmental challenges of today.
During the public presentation of the "Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality", which took place last Friday, 17 March, at the Famalicão Municipal Market Square, the Mayor of the Famalicão Municipality called the whole community to this goal and announced the creation of an Advisory Board for Climate Change with the participation of companies, universities, technology centres, among other entities.
"The challenges are enormous and the targets are ambitious. We need a robust and complete plan to achieve this purpose and that will only be possible with everyone's contribution", said Mário Passos.
The mayor also recalled that the commitment with the climate and the environmental sustainability issues are increasingly a concern within the community and pointed out the example of local businesses. "Famalicão is a highly industrialized territory. The contribution of industry in the decrease of CO2 emissions is very important and, through the Created IN route, I have had the opportunity to see that many companies already have a very strong environmental concern".
It should also be noted that the preparation of this plan counts with the collaboration of GET2C, the company that coordinated the National Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality.
The base study prepared by the consultancy firm concludes that the Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) of the municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão remained practically constant between 2015 (656 kilotons of CO2e) and 2021 (657 kilotons of CO2e) and that, in general, the percentage weight of the identified sectors in GHG emissions was maintained between 2015 and 2021, highlighting a higher contribution of the Stationary Energy sector, followed by Transport. The AFOLU (Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use) and the Waste and Wastewater sectors are those with a lower contribution to the overall emissions of the municipality.
It is recalled that Vila Nova de Famalicão Municipality has decided to create a working team to monitor the climate policy, as well as sectoral policies with an impact on municipal goals regarding decarbonisation and climate change, called Municipal Climate Change Adaptation Team. The coordination of the team is in charge of the Alderman of the Environment, Hélder Pereira.
The Climate Framework Law obliges municipalities to define a Municipal Climate Action Plan by February 2024.