Urban Klima 2050 presents a collection of videos on the work planned and progress made on climate action in the participating municipalities

21/11/2023

Local pilot projects are being developed in seven Basque municipalities: Bakio, Bermeo, Bilbao, Donostia/San Sebastian, Gernika-Lumo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, and Zarautz.

This compilation of media pieces will be released to coincide with the COP 28 meeting in Dubai.

This first piece of the collection is an overview video that brings together the main actions of the seven pilot projects.

LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050, the largest climate action project in the Basque Country, has now reached its halfway point and, coinciding with the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP 28) to be held in Dubai between 30 November and 12 December 2023, is releasing a series of videos on the work planned and progress made in the pilot projects of seven Basque municipalities on the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.

The media pieces cover the actions proposed in Bakio, Bermeo, Bilbao, Donostia/San Sebastian, Gernika-Lumo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, and Zarautz to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and respond to the specific climate risks of each municipality, favouring their climate resilience for 2050.

Each of the seven pilot cases is broken down into three parts. On the one hand, the technical videos point out the particularities and initial requirements of each municipality, and describe the selected climate action interventions in detail. While they are aimed at technical staff, they are also a source of detailed information for interested members of the general public.

The second type of video, which is shorter than the previous ones, covers the different interventions in a more visual way. This is supported by pop-up books and shows the reality of each of the municipalities in 2050 after the implementation of the actions. In this case, their agile and entertaining style makes them more appropriate to share among the general public, schoolchildren, etcetera.

In addition, each municipality also has a third version which, in the form of a trailer, offers a preview of the content of the two previous types of videos. This progress, on the other hand, will be published in the run-up to COP 28.

Actions planned by the seven partner municipalities of the project and summarised in videos.

The aim of the Bakio project is to protect the Estepona River against flooding and to improve the environment by creating a marsh and a flood forest next to the river to reduce the risk of floods affecting the urban centre.

Bermeo, for its part, is working on the recovery of the Tonpoi natural space, developing a peri-urban green infrastructure, located next to the town centre, for public use with criteria adapted to climate change.

Bilbao is making progress in the urban development of Punta Zorrotza, incorporating the perspective of climate change and adaptation in the specific modification of the General Urban Development Plan for the Punta Zorrotza area.

Donostia/San Sebastian has launched several actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change in areas such as mobility, territory, energy, and the circular economy. These include the environmental recovery of the Artikutza dam and the area around the Errekatxulo watercourse, and the installation of photovoltaic solar panels for self-consumption in municipal buildings.

The construction of the Bekoibarra road in Gernika will improve urban connectivity including climate change adaptation criteria to ensure greater resilience against flooding, while avoiding the dragging of pollutants into the Oka riverbed in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve.

Vitoria-Gasteiz is making progress with the initiative Basaldea-Centro de Empresas Agroecológicas (The Basaldea Agro-Ecological Companies’ Centre) to promote entrepreneurship in ecological agriculture, and also with the projects to bring nature into school playgrounds, improve the municipality's trees, and grow the green areas in the Old Town through Natural Solutions.

Finally, Zarautz is continuing with the blue-green ring for adaptation to climate change in the municipality and is working on the study of alternatives for the adaptation of the urban waterfront.