Porto takes examples of energy transition to the World Climate Summit

The international community joined in Dubai for COP28, promoting debate around new responses to climate changes. The vice president of Porto City Hall participated in a parallel panel to the United Nations climate conferences, where, next to leaders of other cities and companies, he spoke about the example of Porto as a development centre going forward with the energy transition.

Filipe Araújo was one of the guests at the European Union’s “Energy Days” initiative, on “Localizing Energy: cities and companies together for the local energy transition” and reaffirmed the importance of cities intervening in face of climate challenges.

“The cities are, in fact, where people live, where most of the problems are, that is where we need to change the paradigm”, considers the vice-president of Porto City Hall, equally responsible for the Environment and Climate Transition, Filipe Araújo believes that “what we must do in the future is related to what cities can do”.

Therefore, the vice-president defended, at European level, the “strengthening of the connection between the European Commission and cities” so that there is “the possibility of financing specific projects”, particularly in terms of energy, which, he considers, should be “produced in our cities”.

Given the example of what has been done in Porto, Filipe Araújo underscored that “the effort must come from everyone. Collective commitment is very important and the companies themselves see the goals we have set as something they also belong”.

The councillor for the Environment and Climate Transition mentioned the launching of Porto Climate Pact as an example of joint work between public and private sectors, “an invitation to everyone to get involved, assuming a commitment towards the future, to the goals established by the city”, carbonic neutrality by 2030.

Next to leaders like the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Munich and Upper Bavaria, Klaus Josef Lutz, or the general director of WindEurope, Malgosia Bartosik, Filipe Araújo also spoke about the Porto Energy Hub, “where we provide technical support to people and companies, we help them look for suitable financing, we also advise on energy efficiency”.

“But we went further”, added the Vice-president, sharing the measure taken by the Municipality of Porto which supports the installation of photovoltaic panels in private buildings by reducing the IMI “in order to accelerate this transition”.

In addition to investing in innovation and ideas coming from public-private partnerships to promote the circular economy, Filipe Araújo considers data sharing to be “crucial”. “If we want to change the way we produce energy, if we want to boost energy communities, if we want to have the public and private sectors to participate, data are essential”, he underscores, giving the example of the platform developed by Porto Digital.