Following in the footsteps of cities such as Paris (France), Copenhagen (Denmark), Oslo (Norway), Seattle (USA) and Melbourne (Australia), the German capital of Berlin has announced that it will no longer invest in fossil fuel companies. The move comes amid pressure to pull support from companies that work against the city's goal of being climate neutral by 2050. This includes oil, coal, and gas companies.

"Berlin is the latest major city to commit to cut its financial ties to the fossil fuel industry, so soon after Stockholm took the step," said Melanie Mattauch, Europe Communications Coordinator for 350.org, speaking to Cities Today. "The fact that cities around the world distance themselves from the companies whose business model pushes us into irreversible climate change shows that public support for coal, oil and gas companies is quickly eroding."

"Efforts by cities to become more resource efficient, reduce their emissions and become more resilient are vital for the wellbeing and quality of life of their citizens, as well as for our overall success in tackling climate change," added Mattauch. The campaign to convince major institutions to divest from companies that disproportionately contribute to climate change has seen great success around the world, with universities, pension funds and religious institutions also committing.

For more information, visit Cities Today.Image copyright: Image (Pixabay) more   8 August 2016 Guidance material for EU urban mobility policy scenario tool available in various languagesTo tackle the problems associated with urban transport such as traffic congestion, emissions and noise pollution, cities need to implement ambitious Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). However, cities also have to be able to forecast the impact of policies and measures included in their SUMPs through scenarios to prioritise the interventions which will make the greatest difference. Assessing this without expert knowledge can be a challenging and expensive task.

The free to use Urban Transport Roadmaps Tool, commissioned by DG MOVE, allows cities to explore transport scenarios that are practical, feasible and implementable. This helps political and technical decision makers to find the most suitable mix of policies and measures for their SUMPs and effectively translate their vision on sustainable urban mobility into reality. It allows users to enter the characteristics of their city, such as its size and traffic conditions. More detailed customisation settings are also available. Users can then select mixtures of policies, and clearly see how the tool calculates the impact on indicators.

In June 2016 the project organised a series of interactive webinars in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish to help users to become more familiar with the tool. Recordings of these webinars and presentation slides are available in each language through the project website. The webinars go into more depth about how the tool can be used, the range of policy scenarios that can be explored, and the many outputs that the tool produces to better inform users of how to develop their SUMP.

For more information about the tool, visit urban-transport-roadmaps.eu.Image copyright: Image (Flickr) by "hansthijs", licensed under CC BY 2.0 more

» Publication Date: 09/08/2016

» Source: Iclei Europe

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