Environment and Climate Action

Reducing the region's territorial vulnerability

The process of adapting to climate change is not only one of the priorities of public policy in Europe, but also one of humanity's main challenges.

This political challenge has been signed up to by Portugal and the European Union (EU), with the ambitious goal of promoting a substantial reduction in domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

To meet this challenge, which requires coordinated and concerted political action at various levels, between January 2018 and December 2019 the AML drew up the Metropolitan Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, because over the last 50 years the climate in the Lisbon metropolitan area has undergone several changes.

It was an intensely participatory co-construction process, involving around 2,700 participants, representing the 18 municipalities of the AML and 300 public and private entities, at national, metropolitan and local level, which culminated in the signing of the Commitment to Adapt to Climate Change, signed by the 18 municipalities of the Lisbon metropolitan area.

All the municipalities assumed the urgency of adapting the metropolitan territory to climate change and the need to reduce its vulnerabilities and the exposure of communities to risks.

It has become imperative for the AML to initiate a set of actions to reduce territorial and sectoral vulnerability by containing and reducing the exposure of people, infrastructures and activities to climate risks, and to prepare communities, local and metropolitan institutions and economic activities to deal with the future climate framework. 

AML is therefore leading a series of innovative adaptation initiatives that need to be experimented with, optimized and disseminated. These include the development of the Metropolitan Strategic Projects, the Metropolitan Forestry Video Surveillance System and the CLIMA.AML project - Metropolitan Weather Monitoring and Alert Network.

In 2022, the European Commission selected AML to sign the Adaptation Mission Charter, which aims to support and promote European regions to become more resilient to climate change by 2030.

Adaptation and Mitigation of Hydrological Risks

The roadmap for implementing the adaptation and mitigation plan for hydrological risks in the Lisbon metropolitan area is being worked on by the Lisbon Metropolitan Area with the Portuguese Environment Agency and the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Regional Coordination and Development Commission.

River basins with a record of flooding and areas susceptible to slope movements will be the privileged areas of intervention, where a series of operations will be carried out between 2024 and 2027 to reduce their exposure to risks and improve areas such as prevention, planning, preparation and monitoring.

During 2023, the terms of reference for the adaptation and risk mitigation intervention plans will be drawn up, the territories will be selected, the intervention plans will be drafted and the funding model for priority projects that can help solve or minimize the structural water problems affecting the Lisbon metropolitan area will be defined.

The submission of applications and the preparation of studies and implementation projects will take place during the first half of 2024.

The projects will be implemented between 2024 and 2027.

RecolhaBio

The RecolhaBio program - Support for the implementation of projects for the selective collection of bio-waste, was created by the Environmental Fund to help municipalities implement solutions for separation and recycling at source and the selective collection of bio-waste.

The RecolhaBio program aims to return the waste management fee to municipalities, depending on their bio-waste management policies.

Municipalities can submit applications to this program, which is held annually.

To this end, a protocol was signed between the Environmental Fund and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, which will be responsible for assessing and monitoring the implementation of the applications. 

It should be remembered that the new legal framework includes, among other things, measures to prevent food waste (bio-waste) in the context of combating food waste, and targets for reducing landfill.  

This revision introduced the obligation for municipalities to implement separation and recycling solutions at source and the selective collection of bio-waste by December 31, 2023.

From 2030, in the member states, landfills cannot accept any waste with recycling potential, particularly municipal waste.