City Reflections & Ambitions - Zadar

"We are working on an action plan for capacity building so that we can finally implement the Paris Agreement in this whole area" 

Darko Kasap, Head of Physical Planning & Construction

Zadar has started to implement activities and projects for adaptation to climate change, all with the aim of improving the quality of life of its citizens. Apart from the local, the City of Zadar is also active at the European level as a member of the European Association Energy Cities and a signatory to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, thus committing to reducing CO2 emissions (and possibly other greenhouse gases) in its territory by at least 40%, increasing resilience to climate change due to the application of the principle of adaptation to climate change and ensuring access to sustainable and affordable energy by 2030. As a signatory to the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, it supports a common vision for 2050: accelerating decarbonisation, strengthening capacity to adapt to the inevitable impact of climate change, and providing citizens with access to safe, sustainable and affordable energy. Also, the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan of the City of Zadar (SECAP) was developed, a key city level document that identifies and provides precise and clear guidelines for the implementation of energy efficiency projects and measures, the use of renewable energy sources and adaptation to climate change.

The project has established science-based carbon reduction targets, policies and action plans, including management and capacity building. These action plans will enable them to contribute to the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement and the EU's strategic vision for carbon neutrality by 2050. In addition to the City of Zadar, the project partners are the cities of Manchester, Bistrita, Frankfurt, Modena, Tartu and Vilvoorde. The project coordinator is the City of Manchester. As part of the project, the City of Zadar installed a device for measuring air quality, developed an Integrated Action Plan for Carbon Reduction and a Carbon Budget with a scenario of achieving carbon neutrality, and established an Urban Local Group (ULG) of key stakeholders. The project also contributes to the digital transformation of the city.

Given that Zadar has already suffered significant damage caused by climate change, such as the flood from September 2017, flooding of roads, frequent storms accompanied by ‘’leeches’’, rising sea levels that often flood roads and other disasters, and according to the made scenarios, Zadar is a city that will be significantly threatened by climate change in the future, especially from rising sea levels, but also from other disasters, the City of Zadar has initiated activities that will mitigate this impact, as well as those on adaptation to the impact of climate change.

In order to keep pace with other European cities, the City of Zadar has set goals that will contribute to the EU's strategic vision of carbon neutrality by 2050 and provide citizens with a high quality of life. Since the transport sector is recognized as one of the key sectors that emits significant amounts of CO2, but also other harmful gases, as part of the project the City of Zadar implemented measures for the analysis of the current situation in order to take actions to prevent air pollution. Due to the large number of tourists, Zadar suffers from constant traffic jams during the tourist season, which significantly affects the air quality. In order to gain a deeper insight into the extent to which traffic affects air quality, the City of Zadar has installed an air quality measuring device that measures various air quality parameters, based on which a broader picture of the impact of tourism on air quality will be obtained. The device is placed at the entrance to the historic center of the city, and measures carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) and particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5 and PM10) as well as temperature, air pressure and humidity. By comparing the results of measurements during traffic jams in the tourist season and those outside the tourist season, the impact of tourism on air quality will be determined, based on which measures will be developed to reduce its impact, all with the aim that city of Zadar became a city of sustainable development, a city that is pleasant to live in by every citizen measures, but also an example of good practice for other cities.

The ZCC Masterclasses allowed the team from Zadar to learn how to create carbon budget. At the city governance session two different approaches were introduced which helped to better understand how to start with the creation of a carbon budget and setting science-based targets.

First masterclass was on methodologies which helped to have a better understanding of the science- based approach to carbon budgeting. Second masterclass was on the ‘’Road to Carbon Neutrality: Current Initiatives and Opportunities Towards Zero Carbon’’. Participation at the 3rd ZCC Masterclass – City Delivery Models for Zero Carbon – exchange of good practices with Manchester and Oslo. In this session Manchester City Council and the City of Oslo presented their zero carbon ambitions. Participation at the 4th ZCC Masterclass – Translating the Paris Agreement into Local Action - a session on science-based targets for cities that looked at the key considerations when setting a science-based climate change target for a city, what makes a good target, and going through the Tyndall approach to setting Paris Agreement aligned carbon budgets.

Participation in URBACT e-University meetings held online, Main learnings: Planning actions, Making Results Visible, Final session were learned on how to apply tools presented at the URBACT e-University.

Participation at the good practice exchange event, mobility sub-task ‘’Changing transport and mobility behaviours of citizens’’, main learnings: Barcelona good practice on how they involve citizens in mobility and transport, Overview of Bistrita’s work with citizens and transport. Also the City of Zadar presented transport challenges in summer with tourists.

Furthermore, in development of Zadar own IAP, as example of good practice, IAP from different cities were used, such as Manchester, Tartu, Bistrita, Vilvoorde and other Croatian city Varazdin.

Next steps for this project will be further analysis of the carbon budget, completion and revision of IAP, analysis of air quality data, procurement of more Air Quality Monitoring Devices and consideration about development of solar potential map.

Public procurement for external expertise for development of the carbon budget and IAP will be completed in December 2021. After the selection of external expertise it is planned to organize ULG meeting to include proposals from stakeholders into IAP. 1st draft of IAP will be completed in January 2022 and a final version should be completed in April 2022.

City of Zadar installed Air Quality Monitoring Device at the enter to the city peninsula (center) that measuring air quality parameters. The first measurement analysis for 4 months period should be completed in December 2021. The Zadar Public Health Institute will prepare air quality analysis.

In the City of Zadar projections, it is planned to purchase more Air Quality Monitoring Devices which should be installed at the other frequent locations which will help determine the air quality in Zadar and make a comparison between air quality during tourist season and out of the tourist season and have a data on tourism influence on air quality.

Also, solar potential map that is a sort of One-stop-shop facilitation model for installation of PV systems on households will be considered for implementation.