Ecological transition in a World Heritage City: The case of San Cristobal de La Laguna (Canary Islands)

The city of La Laguna is one of the largest urban areas of the Canary Islands archipelago,
located on the volcanic island of Tenerife (Spain), whose energy demand results
in a large carbon footprint due to the typical fossil fuel dependency of oceanic
islands. In 2019, La Laguna joined the initiative under the new Climate and Energy
Pact and has been working ever since to achieve the EU target of reducing by 55%
greenhouse gases emissions by 2030. In this work, we present the results obtained
from the study conducted of emissions of the city, focused on buildings, equipment
and facilities (1), public lighting (2), transportation (3) and agriculture, forestry and
fishing (4) sectors. To this end, emissions in 2009 were studied and compared with
those in 2019, resulting in a 4% to 48% carbon dioxide emissions reduction in the last
decade. To achieve the goal of reductions of more than 55% by 2030, the city council
prepared a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP), in which they propose
that successfully implemented measures would achieve a 64% reduction in
emissions in the municipality.