“TECNALIA designs management strategies and decision-making tools for environmental planning in cities and regions”
TECNALIA supports administrations in the strategic environmental planning of cities and region, focusing on citizens
TECNALIA collaborates with administrations and companies to draw up air quality plans and strategies, focusing on citizen empowerment in decision-making processes. Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has presented the New Global Air Quality Guidelines, which recommend reducing even further the levels of main air pollutants.
Air pollution is a major environmental concern in Europe and remains the main environmental health risk (European Environment Agency, 2023). Achieving zero pollution for air, water and soil by 2050 is a key commitment in recent policies such as the European Green Deal.
Plan to improve air quality in Vitoria-Gasteiz 2023-2026
Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council is committed to improving the city’s air quality further than the legal minimum. In this sense, the City Council has designed and implemented an Air Quality Strategy by 2030, with the aim of generating many benefits for residents, the ecosystem and the economy.
Within the framework of this strategy, the following plan, drawn up with the support of TECNALIA, was recently approved: Action Plan to Improve Air Quality 2023-2026. This plan establishes the actions to be adopted and implemented by all stakeholders – from institutions to industry and citizens – in order to make progress in improving air quality. The goal is to achieve increasingly healthier levels of air quality, in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s new global air quality guidelines, focusing especially on vulnerable population groups.
Basque Country Air Quality Plan 2030
In the Basque Country, the Basque Government’s Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment has promoted the Basque Country Air Quality Plan 2030, which is currently being processed. This is the first plan of its kind and will guide the Basque Country’s air quality work until 2030. The plan, created with the support of TECNALIA, includes a strategic vision, lines of work to be developed and actions to be implemented.
Methodology to implement air quality plans
In this type of approach, the methodologies used by TECNALIA include the following phases:
- Diagnosis of the current situation regarding pollutant emissions and their impact on air quality. Pollution maps, among other things, are produced based on the modelling of existing emission sources.
- Analysis of regulations and reference documents at European, national and regional levels to establish strategic objectives and lines of action.
- Participatory co-working processes with the administration, other institutional and social agents, and citizens. In these sessions, the final actions of the Action Plan are agreed, so that it is aligned with the rest of the policies, strategies and plans. In order to develop participatory and communicative processes, TECNALIA relies on the experience of its partner Lur studio.
- Taking into account all the information analysed beforehand, TECNALIA draws up a proposal for actions to be carried out in the Action Plan.
Thanks to TECNALIA’s environmental quality and comfort team’s technical knowledge of air quality management and atmospheric pollution control, TECNALIA has managed to achieve a leading position in the Basque Country and recognised prestige nationally and internationally in this field. Public administrations, both in the Basque Country and in other autonomous regions, as well as the industry, rely on our support for all their environmental planning processes.
