The role of citizens in the reduction of atmospheric pollution and carbon footprint in the Aveiro region

Abstract

Currently, European cities suffer with environmental pressures related to extreme climatic events in some cases related to climate change, as well as air pollution episodes with strong effects on human health and quality of life. The ClairCity project (Citizens-led air pollution reduction in cities) intends to engage citizens in the air pollution and carbon emissions problems and raise awareness about the contribution of citizen's behaviour to those problems. The focus is to put the citizen in the centre of the problem, as author and as the solution. ClairCity places citizens at the heart of the strategy for defining the best solutions to fight against air pollution and climate change. The solutions being produced at the local level should include policy makers, stakeholders, institutions, businesses and NGOs, raising the question of how citizens would like to live, work and travel in their city in the future. ClairCity is a four year European project that engages citizens and local authorities of six European pilot cities and regions. The Aveiro Region is the Portuguese case-study. To reach the project goals, the eleven municipalities that compose Aveiro region assume an essential roll. In this work it will be presented a characterization of the Aveiro region municipalities, focused on the behaviour, ativities and pratices. This will allow the development of a quantification methodology of the citizen's roll on the improvement of air quality and on the reduction of carbon footprint, both based on future scenarios to the years 2025, 2035 and 2050.

Key-Words: air pollution; carbon fotoprint; air quality management; citizens involvement