City Reflections and Ambitions - Bistrita
Edited on
12 August 2022"Bistriţa Municipality has always strived to guide the city’s development in a sustainable manner, setting as a priority environmental protection. This objective is now even more highlighted in our plans to become: „Bistriţa – green city, Bistriţa – clean city!”
The challenges ahead of Bistrița’s climate neutrality and climate change adaptation paths require smart and sustainable urban development solutions that are in line with our development vision and we are eager to share and learn the best experiences regarding environmental protection.
I wish to emphasize that “Bistrița – Zero Carbon City” has become a mission for which we will strive to implement the best possible solutions. It is a commitment to enact green energy transition and its purpose to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
The higher aim of the “Zero Carbon Cities” project was to develop an Integrated Action Plan with specific objectives and measurable actions which can be tracked in order to oversee the change in the climate change-related problems Bistriţa is facing.
understanding the remaining available carbon budget and calculating our present energy consumption necessity through this Plan, we now understand more than ever the urgency to act together, as a community, towards reducing our CO2 emission levels, thus creating a more lasting “green” impact through our projects. Nonetheless, the road towards a “zero carbon city” will require an intelligent use of our resources and diligence in implementing sustainable and durable actions.
By the end of 2050, the municipality wants Bistriţa to be widely recognized through 3 important tags: “zero carbon city”, “green city” and “carbon budget tracking”. Our mission not only accentuates what our community needs to accomplish from an environmental perspective, but also the quality of life that our community deserves. Through the designed actions in our plan, we wish to create a better, 'greener' urban environment for the next generations, while also setting an example of fruitful relations between public administrations and the community"
This is our commitment, to put Bistriţa on the right path towards climate neutrality!
Ioan Turc, Mayor of Bistrita
Bistrita calculated its carbon budget on a scientific basis, enabling the City Hall to set out clear, planned actions to help guide strategic decisions at policy level.
The Integrated Action Plan as the main output of the project, shows the way Bistrita can achieve its goal of carbon neutrality in 2050.
“It is very important cities have strategies and plans heading in the right direction. The right direction for those policies that allow the sustainable development of cities based on solid principles”
Liliana Cocesiu, Chief Executive of European Projects Management & Environmental Protection
The transnational experience within the ZCC project helped the municipality to lay the foundations of a local working group (ULG) with representation both at the local level and at higher level of the governance – Bistrița - Năsăud county. The list of ULG members is open and constantly being updated with new members.
Together with the ULG members and local stakeholders, Bistrita Municipality conducted a “Sustainable Urban Mobility Campaign”, through which a series of education, information and awareness actions took place:
- Zero Carbon Bike tour
“Anywhere you can go super easy by bike. Through the ZCC project, for the cycling tour in 2021, we tried to change the mentality of the younger generation at least for them to make a change to show them that it is possible in our city as well”
Claudiu Vidican – Local NGO ‘Copacul de Cafea’(Coffee Tree)
- Smart mobility games -through artistic painting the pre-schoolers learned in a fun way more about the sustainable means of transport and the air pollution
- Traffic safety lessons for children
- Implementation of a network of air quality monitoring sensors. The data from the sensors are available on mobile application and also on a specific online platform, so each member of the community can be involved in monitoring air quality.
“Two sensors were installed in our high school, an indoor and outdoor sensor for air quality monitoring. For students, the importance of these sensors is even greater as besides the sports classes, we have a class on environmental protection”
Octavian Guiu – School Principal, Local Sports High School
The municipality hopes that such activities will resonate among the citizens and contribute, through small gestures, to the transition towards "Bistrita, Zero Carbon City"
Bistrita has set on a path towards becoming carbon neutral within the broader context of tackling climate change. However, the record-level energy consumption of the city poses many challenges towards achieving fewer emissions. The IAP has underlined the main objectives for achieving the neutrality goal while highlighting the necessity for immediate action in order to fit into the remaining carbon budget. Nonetheless, this ambitious list of measures leads to a high resource demand, but at the same time implies the city can become sustainable.
In regard to the main steps and actions following the completion of the IAP, the municipality needs to address the following matters:
- Present the IAP to other possible stakeholders and improve media coverage of the target Bistrita has set for 2050;
- Create a long-term partnership with the current ULG members in order to ensure continuity after the ZCC project ends;
- Develop the energy management team within the City Hall;
- Integrate the IAP medium and long-term actions in other strategic documents of the city in order to foster synergies and improve the potential for funding;
- Set together with the ULG members tasks and responsibilities for implementing the actions set in the IAP;
- Reach out further to private entities in the city, especially economic agents from the industry sector where there is a lack of data, and invite them to events with the ULG in order to expand the group;
- Implement on a yearly basis short-term actions in order to raise public awareness on the need to address climate change and necessary actions towards a climate neutral city;
- Constantly organize ULG meetings in order to monitor the implementation of all IAP actions;
- Implement the IAP proposed actions
Submitted by Laura McIntosh on