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The Limassol Municipality's project to participate in the EU Mission for 100 climate neutral and smart cities by 2030, is expected to make a major contribution to shaping the Cyprus of tomorrow, said the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Kyriakos Kokkinos, assuring that in this "big, bold and difficult bet", the State and the Deputy Ministry will be a companion and supporter.
Kyriakos Kokkinos was speaking on Monday evening at the first major public presentation of the European programme "EU Cities Mission", organised by the Limassol Municipality, which by 2030 is invited to find, together with 99 other European cities, those practices that will shape it into a climate neutral and smart city, 20 years earlier than the rest of Europe.
As the Deputy Minister noted, Limassol will be a model for the rest of Cyprus, indicating that "climate-neutral and smart Limassol means synergy between the State, the Municipality, the research, academic and business innovation ecosystem and harnessing the research work that is being done to move forward as an essential asset in building solutions for citizens, together with citizens."
Expressing the view that today Limassol is at a crossroads and is, perhaps, the best city in the Mediterranean and in Europe, "in terms of quality of life, vibrancy and investment intensity", Kokkinos stressed that this sharp growth brings with it an environmental burden.
It is for this reason, he continued, that the Municipality's participation in the EU Cities Mission "came at the right time, to help the city continue to grow and at the same time, to draw all the other cities of Cyprus along with it, so that we have a climate-neutral Cyprus".
The Deputy Minister underlined the challenges of the climate crisis we are experiencing, recalling that cities, which cover only 3% of the earth's land area, produce more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, while in Europe, it is estimated that, by 2050, almost 85% of citizens will live in urban areas.
He added that "with a sense of responsibility towards future generations and in the context of both the National Strategy for Smart Cities and the national policies on Climate, Energy and Circular Economy, we have invested more than €700 million - 64% of the total budget of our National Recovery and Resilience Plan - in investments and reforms that contribute to the green and digital transition".
"The bet for a smart and climate-neutral Limassol in such a short period of time, just eight years, is certainly big, bold and difficult and the bet for a smart and climate-neutral Cyprus even bigger," he said and assured that the State will stand by the Limassol Municipality in this effort.
The scope of the challenge for the Municipality is evident through the Mayor's reference that in order to achieve climate neutrality in the theme of traffic, one of the five themes, "by 2030 we will have to convince half of the citizens to use buses and bicycles and the other half to use electric cars".
"Imagine how many things need to be done for public transport, park & ride systems, central bus stations and transfer stations, bus lanes, bike lanes, pedestrian streets, incentives to buy an electric car," he said, adding that all these should be promoted and adopted in the next eight years. The challenges are similar in the other four thematic areas, namely energy, buildings, the circular economy, the coast and the seas.
He also said that the investment plan concerns projects and actions with a budget of more than one billion euros. Based on EU calculations, investments of around €10,000 per inhabitant of the 100 cities are foreseen. Nicolaides said that for the design and development of Limassol's climate neutrality strategy, the Municipality has already started mobilizing the entire relevant ecosystem, namely government departments, universities, research centers, NGOs, institutions, companies and investment organizations.
At the same time, he added, emphasis is being placed on a participatory approach, where citizens will be encouraged, through a series of public consultations and actions, to take an active role in leading the city's transition to climate neutrality "as co-designers, co-creators, co-implementers and co-beneficiaries".
"To be able to move quickly and effectively, we need to formulate the appropriate framework, to make immediate changes to practices and habits that have existed for many years, changes in regulations, in approaches, in procedures, even in legislation," he said, stressing that, above all, a change of attitude and philosophy towards the practical aspects of the implementation of the programme is needed from all stakeholders and parties involved "and certainly a strong commitment, a lot of imagination and absolute determination is needed from everyone. CNA
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