By Olga Rosca
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development welcomes the Green City Action Plan approved last week by Chisinau’s city council, as part of the Moldovan capital’s participation in the EBRD’s flagship urban sustainability programme, EBRD Green Cities. Chisinau was the first city in Moldova to join the programme; Balti has also signed up.
EBRD Head of Moldova, Angela Sax said: “We welcome this key step taken by Chisinau municipality to improve its urban environment. The action plan adopted last week will pave the way for much needed infrastructure investments aimed at improving lives in the Moldovan capital. The EBRD is already financing the energy efficiency of public buildings and is ready to finance a comprehensive waste management project alongside other initiatives that address environmental issues the city is facing.”
The €1.5 billion(US$1.65billion) EBRD Green Cities programme has grown rapidly since being set up in 2016 and now covers 41 cities. It helps each city tailor solutions to its environmental needs with a unique combination of measures, all designed to move cities towards a lower-carbon and more liveable future. On joining the programme, cities undertake a trigger project and craft their own Green City Action Plan, or GCAP.
Funded by the government of Austria, the preparation of Chisinau’s GCAP started in August 2018 and was completed in December 2019, with more than 350 residents taking part in a 2019 survey to select the actions to include in the plan.
As part of the GCAP, the city has committed to enhancing institutional capacities for the implementation, assessment and monitoring of the sustainable urban development process.
The plan includes another four strategic objectives:
- sustainable mobility and transport
- climate-resilient ‘blue-green’ infrastructure
- sustainable and efficient energy
- sustainable resources and waste management.
A total of 36 actions have been prepared to achieve these objectives, at an estimated total cost of €365 million to be sourced from the city and national budgets, the private sector or loans from international financial institutions.
These actions will address Chisinau’s most pressing environmental challenges, improving air quality, water quality, land use, biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation.
