Regions and cities have been showing the steps taken to decarbonise the European economy through the implementation of different local initiatives. These initiatives aim to transform the way of living and working, of producing and consuming, and other daily actions to achieve environmentally sustainable and socially and economically just growth. To this end, the European Commission launched the EU Green Deal, setting out objectives, principles, and tools in policy areas. For its part, the Committee of Regions plays an important role in making the budget available to carry out some of the initiatives proposed by the regions.
The European Green Deal map launched by the CoR showcases the effort of regions and cities to take action in order to mitigate the climate crisis so that they can continue being supported by EU tenders and funding programmes.
Our member, Gabrovo, launched the “Three urban electric buses for Gabrovo” initiative through an EU Green Deal Tender. The tender aim is to achieve sustainable and ecological urban transport through new electrical buses. It tries to solve some of the issues that electrical vehicles generate. The implementation of the project "Development of sustainable urban transport in the city of Gabrovo" , carried out with the financial support of the Operational Program "Regions in Growth" 2014-2020, modernised the urban transport of the city, making it not only more ecological, but also more efficient and faster.
Even though electric vehicles are considered to be "the greenest" on the market. There have been some issues discovered such as the raw material in batteries and negative environmental impact during their extraction and disposal. Some of these issues are solved in electrical vehicles that use supercapacitors instead of standard batteries. This public procurement tries to solve on time the problem (disposal of the batteries) before it reaches a critical level.
Another good example of Gabrovo’s development in greener and smarter cities is the initiative called “Smart waste management”. It consisted of two smart bins for recycling plastic packaging and bottles in one bin, and paper and carton packaging in the other. Both bins are from the BinkyPal series developed by a company from Gabrovo – Senstate Technologies and sponsored by Gabrovo Municipality. What makes the bins “smarts” is the sensors for tracking the level of waste inside, solar panel, temperature and humidity sensors, and the most innovative sensor for alarming when the bin is in the wrong position. The innovative technology helps the municipality to reduce problems such as overflowing with waste or bad recycling behaviours of citizens.
These examples bear witness to how local and regional actors play a strategic and crucial role in achieving the EU's challenging objective. They are proving how committed they are to set out environmental actions to achieve global sustainable goals. We want to share them to promote the exchange of knowledge and good practices between regions and cities across Europe.
