The update of data from the detected labels of the Low Emissions Zone (ZBE) indicates that in Barcelona there are already more passenger cars circulating with the ECO than with the yellow one (B). They are one in four cars, 24.7%, while the second badge represents 18.1%, according to September measurements. These figures are, in the opinion of the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni, the demonstration that the restriction on the entry of the most polluting vehicles, which started in January 2020, works, since it has led to a modernization of the vehicle fleet and, The dessert, a reduction in pollution.
The most numerous passenger cars continue to be those with the green label (C), which represent just over half – 52% – of those that circulate through the ZBE. Those with a zero mark (the electric ones) are 4% and those without environmental identification, the most polluting, banned with exceptions in the restricted area (which is more or less the one delimited by the rounds), are in figures residuals of 1.2%.
“We can now say with complete clarity that the ZBE has allowed us to have a cleaner park, that this policy is working, it is giving results,” said Laia Bonet, first deputy mayor and head of the Mobility area, this Wednesday, who specified that Cars with ECO label overtook those with the B in February. The evolution is very significant, he added, since in 2017 those with the yellow badge represented 40% and only in the last year they have reduced by 3.2 points (while the ECO have grown by 4). The trend observed in passenger cars is similar in other vehicles (trucks, vans...), said the mayor, although she did not provide figures in this regard.
Another aspect that the municipal government reads positively is that of the aging of the park, which although it is increasing, it is doing so in Barcelona at a significantly lower rate than in Spain as a whole. According to data from the General Directorate of Traffic, the average age of the vehicles registered in the Catalan capital has gone from 10.5 years in 2016 to 11.2 in 2022, while throughout the country it has increased by the same amount. period from 12 to 13.9 years.
That private traffic is less polluting has a direct effect, Bonet recalled, on air quality, the improvement of which is the objective of the ZBE. In this sense, he announced that 2023 will be the first year that closes with compliance with the European regulatory limits of 40 micrograms / m3 of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in all the city's monitoring stations on an annual average. “It is a very important piece of information, which tells us that we are on the right path,” the councilor stressed, although she recalled that Europe plans to tighten the thresholds – by half in 2030 –, which she considered “good news” that requires “ to continue working to be prepared.”
In this more demanding scenario, Bonet was asked about the possibility of vetoing vehicles with a yellow label, a measure that was proposed a long time ago but has not been applied and about which Collboni himself has said that he will need his approval. time. The deputy mayor did not want to comment. “I will not begin to evaluate any specific measure without having first worked with the other administrations,” he said, referring to the Generalitat, the Metropolitan Area and the affected municipalities, with which Barcelona shares a work table pending a meeting to evaluate what has been done and propose what is to come in the ZBE. “We do not want to go with previously made announcements or with a priori statements,” the councilor concluded.
