Valladolid City Mayor, Jesús Julio Carnero, has participated in the key panel on funding at the Valencia Conference on the Climate Neutral Cities 2030 Mission.
Together with Valladolid, the mayors of Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza and Vitoria-Gasteiz reaffirmed their commitment to climate action at this meeting organised by the European Commission and NetZero Cities.
The Valladolid Mission has 100 ambassadors who have signed up to the Valladolid Climate Agreement.
Valladolid City Mayor, Jesús Julio Carnero, highlighted in the key panel of the Valencia Conference, focused on funding, the absolute commitment of the city to the Climate Mission through key areas such as the business environment: "We have identified the need to support the business environment, in particular small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Large companies already share our goal of decarbonisation, for example two international companies based in Valladolid, such as RENAULT, which aims to be climate neutral by 2030; or MICHELIN, which plans to invest €200 million in its decarbonisation plans. Large companies are going to be the driving force behind decarbonisation. And in this transition, we must give opportunities to SMEs so that they are better prepared and more competitive in this ecological transition".
The Round Table, which focused on unlocking funding for the Mission, opened with a message from the President of the European Investment Bank, Nadia Calviño, who announced that the EIB will launch a new line of loans for sustainability projects worth €2 billion.
Valladolid Mission 100 ambassadors
Carnero thanked this commitment which has resulted in the addition of companies, entities and associations from Valladolid to the Valladolid Climate Agreement, which will soon have 100 ambassadors from the public and private sector. They will be the driving force behind this platform for an emission-free city by 2030.
The ‘River Project’ and Two European Missions
The Mayor has shared in the meeting new initiatives of transformative sustainability of the city: "We are working on a project of the Pisuerga River as it passes through Valladolid, it is intended -while tackling critical environmental challenges (flooding intensification, droughts, heat waves,etc.)- to integrate the river space in the city, generating new possibilities for leisure and public use of the river area; promoting connectivity between urban spaces and green and blue corridors; and all this while implementing the necessary actions to improve, protect and preserve the biodiversity".
According to Carnero, "this project is an excellent example of the alignment of climate change mitigation and adaptation actions. It is a clear example that "in Valladolid we work as a city that contemplates a single Climate Mission, which brings together two of the EU missions: the Smart and Climate Neutral Cities 2030 Mission and the Climate Change Adaptation Mission".
Innovative Dissemination Campaigns
Valladolid has also shared in the third edition of the Conference that is being held this week, June 25th and 26th in the EU Green Capital 2024, its innovative dissemination campaigns on the Climate Mission to reach out to citizens. One example has been the joint promotional action with the campaign "I accept the Mission", launched with the commitment of Ronaldo Nazario, owner of the Valladolid Football Club, to the city's Climate Agreement.
A Leading Spanish Group
The Valladolid Mission gains strength in this meeting by sharing its roadmap with the other six "Spanish Mission Cities", as well as with those of other European countries. Together with Valladolid, Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Zaragoza and Vitoria make up the Spanish spearhead group, supported by the CitiEs2030 platform, and which Europe chose in 2022 to speed up its climate action programme.
