Green Areas Inner-city Agreement (LIFE GAIA)

The main objective of the project is to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the local level through the development of a partnership between Municipality and private companies to plant trees through the adoption of the “green areas inner-city agreement” (GAIA). The partnership will voluntary and developed within the corporate social responsibility framework whereby companies contribute to the creation of green areas, in order to compensate for the negative impacts of some of their activities or products. The project aims to: i) Develop a model of environmental governance merging mitigation and adaptation effects of climate change (and how this influences) the enhancement of air quality; ii) Demonstrate the feasibility of local policies tackling climate change through the development and subscription of a partnership, between private and public bodies, for the management of green urban areas; iii) Initiate a process to assist public administrations in promoting co-responsibility by an innovative management tool that foster tree planting in urban areas as a compensatory action for the construction of infrastructure; iv) Define a common and replicable methodology to calculate the greenhouse gases and air pollutants sequestration potential of trees; v) Offer an instrument that local businesses can apply to decrease carbon footprint with offsetting actions. The project aims to involve high number of companies in planting at least 3,000 trees by the end of the first year of the project, and up to 9,000 in the next two years.