Following the proposal of the mayor Joan Ribó, Valencia City Council approved the regulation of the working groups of the València 2030 Strategy, and the creation of the first of them, the Working Group on Energy Transition. The new group can count on the participation of the València Climate and Energy Foundation, business associations, citizen, professional entities, and academic institutions. As explained by the mayor, Joan Ribó, "the objective is to define and implement a whole range of strategic projects that allow us to move towards a sustainable city, free of emissions."
The municipal government wants to define València's 2030 Urban Strategy with the collaboration of all the stakeholders, with the aim of meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Urban Agenda.
"We constitute this working group to advance the energy transition of the city together with companies, civil society, academia and the entire set of public institutions involved," explained Ribó.
The Energy Transition Working Group is the first of the working groups that will be formed in the coming months. The Group's Technical Secretariat will be held by TOMORROW's project partner Valencia Climate and Energy Foundation, but many other city departments, energy companies, educational institutions and business/industry associations as well as energy, environment and communication experts will participate. As Joan Ribó explained, "the fundamental concern is how we manage to accelerate the energy transition, wnd we all have to be involved in that. It is the only way to respond to the challenges of the current climate emergency."
The overall objective of the València 2030 Strategy is "to turn the city into a plural and open space, and to fight against the climate emergency". The draft of the strategy will be ready in 2022, but participatory processes and neighborhood projects have already started. Such participatory activities will be object of citizens debates and they will be also a way for the citizens to contribute to the strategy. Each working group will see the participation of technicians, experts, citizens and entities and will be coordinated by a technical team from the City Council and lead by the office of Urban Strategies and Sustainable Agenda. At the same time, the agenda will be linked to the work of the Social Council of the City and to a broader council, made up of all those instances of the city that have something to say about the present and the future of Valencia, supported by an advising committee made up of relevant personalities involved in this Strategy.