Barcelona will welcome tourists with less warmth this winter
1 January 11:42
Tourists in the historic center of Barcelona in the last days of 2024 still had the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the city on the open and warm terraces of local cafes and restaurants, but from January 1, it will become cooler there, as the use of gas patio heaters is banned from January 1 due to carbon emissions. Reuters writes about this, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs.
The ban is the culmination of years of struggle between the city council and restaurateurs, who fear that their businesses will suffer losses as customers avoid outdoor seating in winter.
The measure was first introduced in 2018, but the city council agreed to gradual restrictions to give the hospitality sector time to adapt.
Although, according to the Barcelona City Council, electric heaters with a capacity of no more than 150 W/m2 will still be allowed from November 1 to April 30.
By the way, a similar attempt to ban heaters on the streets, which was made in 2023 in Madrid, was thwarted after a local court ruled that the city council had not provided evidence that these heaters contributed to global warming.
Space heaters are banned not only in Spain
Heated outdoor seating areas have been banned in France for several years now. Local environmental NGOs once estimated that there are at least 12,500 heated terraces in the country. And according to estimates by the energy-saving group NegaWatt, a 75 m2 terrace heated with gas from November to March emits as much CO2 as a car that has traveled the earth three times.
As Barbara Pompili, then Minister of the Environment, said, “What is at stake is the end of environmentally anomalous practices that lead to completely unjustified energy consumption.”
“It’s a bold decision,” said Thierry Salomon of the energy-saving group NegaWatt, adding that in northern European countries with much colder climates, restaurants usually offer blankets to customers on terraces.
Rennes was the first French city to ban heated terraces.
