The European Commission’s “Sustainable Urban Mobility” campaign was launched in July and represents a three-year initiative (2012-2015) aiming to support sustainable urban mobility campaigners in 31 countries.
The day of the campaign launch marked the opening of a registration system to support outstanding actions for fostering positive change in attitudes and behaviour as regards urban mobility. The central objective of this new campaign is to promote the advantages of combining different modes of transportation.
“We want to encourage people to vary the way they move around the city – so our slogan invites people to “Do the Right Mix”. This campaign will give a boost to the local, regional, and national awareness-raising actions that play a crucial role in creating and promoting this 21st century culture of urban mobility. It is vital to promote diversity in our daily mobility choices”, said Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport.
An award fund of EUR 500,000 will support actions demonstrating significant networking and multiplication effects at the local, regional and/or national, or even EU level. Individuals, non-commercial entities (schools, NGOs, public administrations, etc.) and commercial entities are eligible to apply for up to EUR 7,000 in financial support from the European Commission by participating in the campaign.
Campaigns supporting a sustainable urban transport have been launched in countries such as Great Britain, Italy, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Austria, Croatia, Norway, Island and Liechtenstein.
“Do the Right Mix” campaign will also recognise Europe’s best sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) through an annual award. Apart from European recognition, the town or city that demonstrates the most advanced approach in terms of integrated transport planning will receive a prize of EUR 10,000. The first call for the SUMP award will be launched this September.
Another measure aimed at supporting the idea of sustainable mobility is the Green Up Project “Let’s travel together!”, developed and supported by the United Nations European Programme for Environment (UN Environment Programme). The campaign was created for the online communication channels and is aimed at promoting a sustainable transport. The project seeks to change the transport behaviour of the citizens in favour of public transport and can reduce the environmental impact, but also economic and social costs. The Europeans who used public transport between 2008 and 2011 have saved over 630,000 tonnes of CO2 and the consumption of 324 million litres of fuel. They have also helped save EUR 750 Million. In 2009, railway transport was responsible for just 1,8% of the total CO2 emissions in the entire transport sector or 0.6% of the total CO2 emissions in EU 27.
In Romania, local authorities, transport operators, public transport companies – Argeş County Prefect’s Office, Bucharest Municipality, Botoşani Municipality, Sibiu Municipality, Galaţi Municipality, the Romanian Railway Industry Association, CFR Călători, URTP, RATB, Eltrans SA, ETA SA, Alfrednet, STP Alba, Club Feroviar , join their efforts in promoting railway transport. The initiative has been launched by the group of experts in sustainable mobility and metropolitan development, Club Metropolitan.
Share on:
