The delegate of the Government of Spain in the Community of Madrid, Francisco Martín, met today with several coordinators of Ecologists in Action-Community of Madrid.
Coinciding with the European Mobility Week, on September 20, the Government Delegation sent letters to the municipalities of Arganda del Rey, Aranjuez and Valdemoro, demanding that they put into operation the Low Emission Zones (ZBE), as required by the implementation of the Law against Climate Change.
The meeting shared the situation of the implementation of Low Emission Zones in the municipalities of the Community of Madrid. At the moment, 22 municipalities have active or in the process of processing EBZs, while Arganda del Rey, Valdemoro and Aranjuez have not yet begun the necessary procedures for its implementation.
For its part, Ecologistas en Acción reminds the municipalities of Valdemoro, Aranjuez and Arganda del Rey that the implementation of ZBE is not a capricious measure but “an obligation derived from the Climate Change Law and the constitutional protection of the rights to health, the environment and ultimately life.”
For Ecologists in Action, this right must prevail over that of travelling in a private vehicle with a combustion engine.
Premature deaths from contamination
According to a report prepared by Ecologistas en Acción, air pollution causes 5,000 premature deaths each year in the Community of Madrid and more than half of that figure in the city of Madrid. This pollution is mainly due to the pollution caused by private vehicles with combustion engines, so once again it is the most vulnerable groups that suffer these deaths because, in many cases, they do not have a private vehicle to travel, thus being more exposed to pollution.
On the other hand, the costs associated with pollution, such as the loss of working days, healthcare costs, premature death or damage to buildings, are four times higher than the adoption of ambitious measures to reduce it, according to the EU Action Plan “Zero pollution for air, water and soil”.