Case, Mobility, Strategic planning
Low Emissions Zone (LEZ) in Barcelona Metropolitan Area
The LEZ Metropolis of Barcelona is one of the largest low-emission zones in Europe, with a total area of 116.5 km2, and affects 14 metropolitan municipalities. The LEZ is active on weekdays, from Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and you can only drive there with a non-polluting vehicle or by processing an authorization or exception in the Metropolitan Registry
The Barcelona LEZ is one of these metropolitan low emission zones formed by Barcelona and the surrounding municipalities in the Ring Roads rondes, where different restrictions apply than those of the rest of the metropolitan LEZ. The Barcelona LEZ was pioneered in Spain in 2020, as it was implemented before the Spanish LEZ regulation in 2022. The restriction of polluting vehicles was implemented progressively, becoming fully active in July 2022.
The aim is to reduce the use of the most polluting private vehicles. It covers the entire municipality of Barcelona (except the Zona Franca and the neighbourhoods of Vallvidrera, Tibidabo and Les Planes), and 13 more metropolitan municipalities.
To learn how the area was implemented, a technical guide was edited. This guide is born from the experience of the AMB in the implementation of the ZBE Rondes de Barcelona, a common measure in Europe, implemented in more than 200 cities, but with little presence to this day in Spain. The ZBE Rondes de Barcelona is the first low emissions area of the State and the most extensive in southern Europe. With this guide it is intended to carry out a technical approach to all the aspects that must be taken into account for to the implementation of a ZBE in any city of the State. Born, therefore, with the aim of facilitating the implementation of ZBE in the cities of Spain.
Tags: Urban planning, urban mobility, metropolitan mobility, air pollution, climate change
Challenges addressed
To deal with the challenges raised, the AMB is implementing a battery of measures to move towards a more sustainable mobility, among which the implementation of the low emission zone Rondes de Barcelona and several low emission zones local in the metropolitan area. The implementation of a low emissions zone (from now on, ZBE) is in line with Law 7/2021, of May 20, on climate change and energy transition, which aims to establish ZBE in all cities over 50,000 inhabitants before 2023. In addition, the line of action “Low emission zones and transformation of urban and metropolitan transport” is part of component 1 “Shock Plan of sustainable, safe and connected mobility in urban and metropolitan environments” of the Plan de recovery, transformation and resilience of Spain (PRTR), presented on October 7, 2020 by the Spanish Government, understood as a project. It is one of the flagship policies of the PRTR, which guides “the modernization of the Spanish economy, the recovery of economic growth and job creation, the solid, inclusive and resilient reconstruction after the COVID-19 crisis, to respond to the challenges of the next decade”.
With the implementation of ZBE Rondes de Barcelona, once again, the local world continues
being at the forefront of measures for social and economic progress in the fight against it
climate change and improving air quality.
Main objectives
Public health problems have been multiplied by the effects of diesel engine fraud.
Years after the diesel scandal, diesel vehicles remain one of the main ones risks to the health of citizens: effects on the central nervous system (CNS), asthma and reduced lung function (CP), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), effects on the reproductive system (PM), effects on the liver, spleen and blood (NO2), cancer, effects cardiovascular (PM, SO3, O3), etc.
In addition, several studies suggest that people who live in areas where the air is more contaminated have higher mortality rates in cases of coronavirus infection. Scientific evidence shows that people who live in an area with high levels of pollution they are more likely to develop chronic respiratory conditions from diseases infectious A recent study by Harvard University concludes that an increase of 1 g/m3 in PM2.5 can increase the death rate from COVID-19 by 15%.
These are the main pillars of the transition to achieve sustainable mobility, and some of the dimensions that make mobility in the metropolitan area one fundamental element for the well-being and functionality of the whole and which point to the need for an integrated mobility and transport policy that is consistent for the entire territory metropolitan which is as urgent as it is necessary for the following reasons:
- In social terms, because mobility is a way to access the basic pillars of the state welfare (health, education, social services, etc.). A metropolis that does not guarantee the
mobility to its inhabitants is allowing an unequal distribution of opportunities for citizens to access basic services such as hospitals, schools, workplaces or commercial establishments. Therefore, advances towards sustainable mobility are a tool for social cohesion.
- In economic terms, because the cost that business and social agents have to bear in the transport of people and goods forms part of their income statement.
In an increasingly globalized environment, the competitiveness of our metropolis involves planned, intelligent and effective mobility that guarantees efficient travel
of people and property. In short, the efficiency of mobility is essential to guarantee the economic progress.
- In environmental terms, because transport is a factor of energy dependence and the main source of pollution in the metropolitan city. Therefore, the transition no
to sustainable mobility is also the main vector towards the energy transition and one of the pillars for building a healthier city.
Facts
Project type Mobility and Transport, technical guides
Partnership AMB, Local City Councils of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Spanish General Direction of Traffic (DGT)
Funding The new Fund of Recovery Next Generation EU will allow Spain to mobilize a volume of investment without precedents In fact, the European Council agreement provides for funding of up to 140,000 million euros in transfers and credits in the next six years, 11% of GDP in 2019.
Start date 2019- 2022
Website https://www.zbe.barcelona/en/zones-baixes-emissions/la-zbe.html
Project description
A ZBE is an area delimited by a public administration that, in the exercise of its powers, progressively restricts access, circulation and parking of vehicles to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This delimitation can also be useful in promoting safer urban areas thanks to reducing the number of victims of traffic accidents, as well as creating urban spaces more liveable and socially more inclusive. Generally, it is prohibited that vehicles more polluters access the ZBE and travel there, although there are also areas where vehicles they have to pay a fee based on their polluting potential.
This is one of the measures available to the municipalities and which is proposed in the Plan of recovery, transformation and resilience, in the Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, the draft of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (2021-2030) and in the press release A call for smarter urban vehicle access regulations of the European Commission to ensure the quality of the air we breathe and guarantee the right to health within the cities.
Currently, more than two hundred European cities in ten countries, such as London, Berlin or Paris, have implemented these zones with restrictions on the most polluting vehicles for preserve the health of its inhabitants. The European Commission, aiming at promoting the diffusion between cities and regions, gives financial support to the web space in which they are all collected the European experiences in this field.
In addition to ZBEs, information on others is expanded restrictive measures for the private vehicle, such as city tolls.
In Spain, the access limitation for polluting vehicles is linked to requirements related to the environmental badge of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT).
Impact and results
- It was estimated that the first LEZ phase, within Barcelona ring roads, would cancel about 170,000 daily journeys from 137,000 vehicles, of which 88,000 would be arrivals and departures from the restricted area, and about 50,000 will be internal journeys.
- During the first LEZ implementing period, the circulation of vehicles without an authorised environmental label has been drastically reduced. Before the LEZ implementation, vehicles without a badge accounted for 20% of the total number. In phase 1, when no vehicle was yet sanctioned, this percentage felt to 6% and in September 2021, when the circulation of cars, mopeds and motorcycles without a badge was finally restricted, the amount of these vehicles became residual 2%.
- Moreover, vehicles with an environmental label B, although they still do not suffer any restrictions, have also been already reduced. Its proportion within the circulating stock has fallen by 16 percentage points. On the other hand, vehicles with a C and ECO label have increased by 31 and 7 percentage points respectively.
- The vehicle fleet renewal has led to an important decrease in polluting particulates: 51.0% reduction in the case of NOX, 18.5% in PM10 and 24.7% in Black Carbon (BC).
- The ZBE it discourages the use of the car for short journeys where other transport alternatives may be better (bicycle, on foot, public transport) and, secondly, it reduces the low occupancy of vehicles, one of the main determinants of the large congestions in urban areas.
- People who traveled alone by car in 2019 compared to those who did so with a car decreased their proportion of trips in this vehicle more (26 percentage points more), and so did people who made short journeys compared to those who made long journeys longer (39 percentage points more)
- The entry into force of penalties for cars without an environmental label reduced the number of journeys with these vehicles by 19 percentage points more than the journeys of petrol and diesel cars with labels.
- Green-labeled commercial vehicles increase the closer to a ZBE, showing that vehicle owners have an incentive to adopt cleaner technologies the closer they live to a ZBE (Wolff, 2014)
- As far as motorcycles concern-, people who had an affected motorcycle do not travel less by motorcycle, but do so with a different, non-polluting motorcycle. In fact, this is quite evident when you check the new vehicle registration data in Barcelona published by IDESCAT, which show a downward trend in car registrations but a recovery in motorcycle registrations almost at pre-pandemic levels
- The following regulations and documents raised as a consequence of the ZBE creation :
- Model municipal ordinance regulator of the ZBE
- Model regulation of the Vehicle Registry foreigners and other authorized vehicles a circulate through low emission zones
- Model technical specification for the tender of the control system
Publications & main documents
Eminently practical guide, based on the real experience of the AMB, in the implementation of the Rondas de Barcelona low emissions zone, which with more than 95 km2 is the largest in southern Europe, with nearly two million inhabitants in five municipalities . This document presents the steps to follow, which obviously must be adapted to each legal and social environment:
