The “Cycling With Clean Air” project (CWCA) of the Conbici platform – which groups 67 cycling groups in the country – has been awarded the Green Light Award in the “Air” categoryin the first edition of these recognitions promoted by Onda Cero and WWF Spain. The ceremony was held in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, to reward outstanding initiatives in sustainability and fight against climate change.
Between 2021 and 2024, the CWCA project measured air quality in 18 Spanish cities through portable sensors installed in the bicycle handlebars. In total, more than 8,400 tours were made, which generated 14 million georeferenced measures on PM2.5 particle levels, one of the most dangerous urban pollutants. According to the data, the 49% of the measurements exceed the limits recommended by WHOespecially during entrances and school outputs.
Conbici designed the project with the aim of making visible the pollution they breathe daily cyclists and pedestrians. The participating cities were: A Coruña, Albacete, Alicante, Barcelona, Burgos, Cartagena, Gijón, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Lorca, Madrid, Malaga, Santiago de Compostela, Terrassa, Valencia, Valladolid, Vigo, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zaragoza.
Marian Sintes, co -creator of the project and coordinator of participating volunteering, thanked the prize as “an impulse to collective work and commitment of those who pedal day by day for healthier, fair and sustainable cities.” He was accompanied by Cristina Llorente, general coordinator of Conbici; Ignacio Sánchez, coordinator of the Cyclotourism and Paco García area, health and environment.
The other award -winning projects were, by the Luz Verde Earth Award, the Tormes Espinosa Barro Foundation for “restoring to conserve” and, by the Agua award, the “Ebro Resilience Strategy”, a pioneering commitment for flood risk management.
The act was presented by the journalist Roberto Brasero, who highlighted during his speech the importance of “making visible the stories that show that the planet can be taken with intelligence, will and collaboration.”