The Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, approved in 2021, establishes that in 2023 all Spanish cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants – also those with more than 20,000 that exceed certain pollution values ??- must have a Low Emissions Zone (ZBE). ) that restricts the circulation of vehicles with the aim of improving air quality.
Despite this obligation, to date there are very few municipalities that have implemented it. And this can be clearly seen in the interactive map that the Government has developed, through the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, so that citizens can know which Spanish cities should have this plan but have not developed it, which ones have are being processed and which ones are already underway. In the latter case, the current restrictions are specified: for example, the affected area, the days and times of application, as well as the vehicles that cannot circulate through it (basically those that lack the DGT environmental badge).
According to the information collected in the aforementioned official map – RACE has also created its own – there are only 13 large cities with an active ZBE. We are referring to A Coruña, Badalona, ??Barcelona, ??Córdoba, La Línea de la Concepción, Madrid, Pamplona, ??Pontevedra, Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Sant Joan Despí, Seville and Zaragoza. The others are either in the process or in the process of doing so.
The fact that they have not all been launched at the same time and with the same restrictions may end up confusing motorists when traveling to other locations in the country. With this tool, drivers can know in advance if they can access certain areas of their destination city with their vehicle.
There are usually traffic signs informing you of entering a low emissions zone. This is a recently created vertical sign that establishes the prohibition of passage of motor vehicles, except for those that have the DGT environmental badge indicated by the local entity at the bottom of the plate.
If a motorist ignores the instructions and improperly accesses the limited area, he or she may be fined – and on more than one occasion on the same day. In Barcelona, ??for example, there are cameras with license plate reading that monitor vehicles traveling through its ZBE. Although it should be noted that these devices are not infallible and it has been the case that they have mistakenly fined a car without a label that was towed on a tow truck.
The latest modification of the Law on Traffic, Circulation of Motor Vehicles and Road Safety included as a novelty the infractions derived from the Low Emission Zones. In this way, the new Law establishes that the fact of not respecting the circulation restrictions derived from the application of the protocols against pollution episodes and the ZBE will be considered serious. The financial penalty for violating these rules will be a fine of 200 euros, but in no case will it lead to the deduction of points from the license.
The implementation of these zones with mobility restrictions for the most polluting vehicles is one of the measures that the Government wants to apply to cut at least 23% of CO2 emissions in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The roadmap that It culminates in 2050, the year in which it has been set for Spain to achieve climate neutrality, that is, greenhouse gas emissions are equal to or less than those eliminated through the planet’s natural absorption.
