Rubí explains its experiences with climate actions to Europe

This Tuesday, Rubí took part in the 18^th European Week of Regions and Cities with the workshop Local and Regional Climate Action, organised jointly by the City Council and the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR). The panel was employed to compare the experiences of diverse European cities and regions in the area of fighting climate change. The other members were Cologne (Germany), Lappeenranta (Finland) and Odessa (Ukraine).

During the presentation, Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez expressed the importance of being able to tackle climate actions from a local perspective, announcing ‘ambitious yet realistic projects’, and adding that meetings like this ‘confirm something we have strongly advocated in Rubí: in municipalities we must be and – indeed we already are – the true drivers to change the energy model’.

At the round table, the elected official related the city’s experience on the Rubí Brilla (Rubí Shines) project, started up in 2011: ‘It was clear at that time that courageous decisions had to be made to fight the climate emergency and we knew that while global efforts are required, municipalities and the people who live there had to step up and take the lead in making changes’. As mentioned, Rubí Brilla started from a strategic vision of power supplies in all fields – industry, commerce, families and the government – that can be executed without the need for large investments.

To endorse her claims, she reviewed the milestones obtained in the framework of this project, such as over 320,000 euros saved via the initiative 50/50 at a dozen city schools and its replication at several other city councils, including Madrid and Valencia. Martínez also mentioned the work done in the industrial arena, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia, which equipped local companies with new instruments for their greater energy efficiency and, thus, greater competitiveness. She also described the Sustainable Commerce Project, which helped a group of local establishments implement good practices based on energy sustainability. And on a domestic scope, Martínez stressed the work done via the project to restore neighbouring communities and Energy for All, the local initiative to fight energy poverty.

After making a speech in Rubí, the head of the Alternative Drives Department and director of the zero emissions project in Cologne, Jens Conrad, presented the work executed in this municipality to add hydrogen fuel-cell buses to the public transport fleet. Then Markku Mäki-Hokkonen, development specialist in Lappeenranta (Finland), explained this industrial city’s firm commitment to become a green municipality. Finally, Yuriy Dimchoglo, vice-president of the Regional Council of Odessa, spoke about promoting wind and solar powers in this Ukrainian region.

The workshop Local and Regional Climate Action was chaired by Martín Guillermo Ramírez, secretary general of the Association of the European Border Regions, with a special performance given by Ukrainian singer Ruslana, an activist working to save the forests of the Carpathians. Like the other events in the European Week of Regions and Cities, the panel organised by the Rubí City Council was held virtually, as a measure to prevent Covid-19. More than 125 people registered to participate, to which many more people among the general public must be added, who watched it broadcast on streaming.