by Walther Ploos van Amstel
It was a tough week for air quality folks. Suddenly, wood smoke is more important than traffic emissions. Even, more harmful than smoking. Painful for policymakers. Up until last year, home biomass burners were still getting subsidies for their poisonous smoke. We know better now.
The construction and maintenance of housing, offices, roads, and other infrastructure represent the third-largest resource footprint in the Netherlands (at 32 million tonnes). The sector also accounts for the highest level of raw material consumption across all sectors (at nearly 29 million tonnes). Scenarios for creating a more circular construction economy have to date included …
From March 1, 2021, large trucks with a zero-star rating will be required to fit additional vehicle safety features to operate within London. Trucks with a one-star rating will be allowed to enter London, however, by 2024, a minimum of three stars will be required for trucks.
More and more people are joining the global information society and digital economy, and are benefiting from the opportunities they offer. In parallel, higher levels of disposable incomes, urbanization, and industrialization in many developing countries are leading to growing amounts of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and, consequently, to greater amounts of e-waste.
The Construction Playbook (by Transport for London) sets out key policies and guidance for how public works projects and programs are assessed, procured, and delivered. The Construction Playbook captures commercial best practices and specific sector reforms outlining the government’s expectations of how contracting authorities and suppliers, including the supply chain, should engage with each other.
The European Commission has published its Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy with an Action Plan involving 82 initiatives that should guide transport policies in Europe for the next four years. The strategy also includes transport industry transition targets by 2030, 2035, and 2050.
POLIS, Transport Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA), and C40 cities launched the How-to Guide, “Zero-Emission Zones: Don’t Wait to start with Freight”. The guide presents experience and advice on developing a zero-emission zone for urban freight, from public and private-sector representatives around the world.
In 2030, 82,000 charging points are needed in Amsterdam (NL), almost 10 times as many as today. The municipality must make this leap of scale in order to realize the ambition of an emission-free city. Amsterdam presented their ‘Laad me – Strategic plan Charging Infrastructure 2020-2030‘. The plan explains how safe, reliable, accessible and affordable …
The Green and Healthy Streets Declaration (the GHS Declaration), launched by 12 C40 cities in 2017, now boasts 35 global signatory cities, committed to working with partners to procure only zero-emission buses from 2025 and to ensure a major area of their cities are zero-emission by 2030.
Global freight demand is estimated to triple between 2015 and 2050. The ability to move goods efficiently has become the lifeblood of economic development, particularly in cities that generate over 80 percent of global GDP and an estimated 75 percent of global emissions.