Carbon Footprint of the Legalization of Activities at the City of Seville

The reduction of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emission in cities is vital because cities generate 60% of global GHG emissions. By the middle of this century, two-thirds of the planet's population is expected to be concentrated in cities. For this reason, energy demand and GHG emissions in large cities will continue to increase, concentrating on urban centres, productive, transport and commercial activities. This increase in economic activities in cities leads to an increase in the number of legalization procedures that are processed by municipalities to authorize and control their implementation. In response to the problems raised, it is presented the results of an investigation undertaken to demonstrate that the application of a Knowledge-Based System (KBS) can significantly reduce the carbon footprint that is currently generated in the Licensing Service of the city council of Seville, as a consequence of the current high failure rate in the subsequent control after the start-up of activities by responsible declaration. The implementation of the SBC would reduce the carbon footprint by 78%, considering an average establishment with 300 m² of built area. This proposal can be applied in any city council of the more than 8000 that exist in Spain, which would have an enormous impact on reducing the carbon footprint of cities and reducing costs for public coffers, and all this without the need to invest in renewing the fleet of vehicles with others that produce fewer emissions, and facilitating the task of promoters of economic activities, with the help of knowledge management. Keywords: Carbon footprint, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Local administration, Knowledge-based system, Compliance.