MADRID'S mayoress Manuela Carmena has denied reports that the city will ban diesel-engine vehicles from its roads from the year 2025 in line with plans announced by Paris and México DF.
The Spanish capital was named during the C40 Mayors' Summit, involving the leaders of 40 major cities worldwide, in México DF, this week as one of three which intended to stop diesel cars using urban roads within nine years, although Oslo, Norway said it would do so by the year 2019.
But Manuela (pictured right, alongside council spokeswoman Rita Maestre, left) did not attend the meeting in the northern American country – she sent a representative, her party said.
A press release from the local authority said: “Madrid city council wishes to stress that it has not signed any agreement in México DF committing itself to remove diesel-engine vehicles from its roads by 2025, despite reports to this effect issued by the C40.”
Another Spanish mayoress – Anne Hidalgo, who was born in Cádiz but is now head of Paris city council – had already announced plans to forbid diesel cars from entering the metropolitan area and was backed by Miguel Ángel Mancera, mayor of México DF which is, statistically, the most-polluted and traffic-filled city on earth.
An unprecedented move to reduce air pollution, which kills an estimated three million people worldwide directly, diesel vehicles are also expected to be banned from the Greek capital, Athens, by the same date.
The press release from the Summit claimed Manuela Carmena commented on the need to cut air pollution for the sake of the health of 'ourselves, our children and our elderly', and recalled that 60% of greenhouse gas emissions were man-made.
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