One day a week without cars will save the equivalent of between 3% and 5% of diesel and gasoline consumed in urban areas, indicates a study this Thursday cited by the environmental association Cero.
As for World Car Free Day, and also European Car Free Day, which is commemorated this Thursday, with the aim of raising awareness about the need to reduce road traffic in cities, the association assures that a new study reveals that 62 % of people in European cities support the idea of one car-free day per week.
The study was carried out in the framework of the Clean Cities Campaign, a European consortium of which Zero is a part.
The association recalls the current energy crisis in Europe to say that “It is urgent to reduce the continent’s dependence on oil and gas”and adds that one car-free day a week would be essential for energy savings and could play a decisive role in mitigating the effects of the current crisis.
The study “reveals that a single day without cars per week in the main European cities could save between 541 and 945 thousand barrels of oil each day that it is implemented (depending on the day of the week), that is, the equivalent of 3- 5% of all diesel and petrol consumption in urban Europe (representing around 23% of emissions and energy use), or the equivalent of around 40% of all annual oil consumption in Portugal or the entire oil consumption of countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,” Zero says in a statement.
Car-free days, Zero says, don’t require new infrastructure, complex regulations, or big spending, and they also allow for improvement in the air.
The association recommends that In general, cities should adopt weekly car-free days and promote public transportation.with the support of the Government, which must improve and densify public transport.
This Thursday, on the occasion of the anniversary, the day that the European Mobility Week ends, the Minister for the Environment and Climate Action, Duarte Cordeiro, invited the members of the Government to travel to the Council of Ministers using means of sustainable mobility .
And several cities in the country will commemorate the European Day Without Cars, with actions to raise awareness and promote sports activities, including walking and cycling.
Source: Observadora
