European Mobility Week is being held once again this year, from 16 to 22 September. This campaign has been running for more than 10 years now. It is an awareness initiative aimed at drawing the attention of the general public towards public transport, cycling and walking and encouraging European cities to promote these forms of mobility and invest in any new infrastructure that may be needed.
The campaign is backed by the Directorate-General of Environment of the European Commission and a huge number of European cities are taking part. Over the course of a week, various activities are organised with a view to heightening awareness of the many aspects of sustainable mobility. ‘In Town without my Car!’ (also known as World Carfree Day) is part of this initiative and takes place on 22 September every year.
Starting out as a small-scale event involving 320 cities in 2002, European Mobility Week has grown to epic proportions, with over 2,000 cities taking part last year. It has shown that promoting sustainable mobility is not just about banning the use of cars; it also requires the provision of practical, useful alternatives.
The slogan of the 2013 edition is ‘Clean air – it’s your move!’ It encourages citizens all over Europe to reflect on the impact of transport on air quality in urban areas. The facts speak for themselves: cleaner cities are also healthier cities. Pure, clean air extends life expectancy and reduces the likelihood of respiratory and cardiac complications.
However, air that is polluted with particles and nitrogen dioxide, for example, increases the risk of lung diseases such as asthma, pneumonia and lung cancer. It is not just human health that is at stake: air pollution is also detrimental to the environment, causing acidification, biodiversity loss, ozone depletion and climate change.
Iberdrola is joining in the initiative again this year and would like to encourage you all to use a more sustainable method of transport in your commute. At the end of 2013 we will once again be distributing a survey among the group’s employees to calculate the emissions produced by our collective commute.
