CIM Terras de Trás-os-Montes becomes Portugal's first intermunicipal community with a Climate Action Plan

The Intermunicipal Community of Terras de Trás-os-Montes (CIM-TTM) presented, on July 14th, at the Azibo reservoir in Macedo de Cavaleiros, Portugal's first intermunicipal Climate Action Plan — a pioneering initiative that places the nine municipalities of the Transmontane northeast at the forefront of the territorial response to climate change.

The plan, funded by the NORTE 2030 programme with an investment of 370,000 euros, is divided into two pillars: mitigation — focused on reducing fossil fuel consumption and transitioning to cleaner energy alternatives — and adaptation, centred on sustainable water management and rural fire prevention.

Pedro Lima, president of CIM-TTM, stressed that changing behaviours is essential for communities to adapt to climate change, highlighting the need to raise awareness among schools, entrepreneurs and agricultural producers. The plan includes concrete actions for debate and awareness-raising with students and agricultural businesses, recognising that changing mindsets is as important as investing in infrastructure.

The study underpinning the plan found that, although the region is not a major greenhouse gas emitter compared to large urban centres, the main emission sources are linked to the transport sector and agriculture — particularly the use of fossil-fuel-powered machinery. Proposed solutions include the transition to electric mobility, incentives for active mobility, the installation of photovoltaic panels on agricultural buildings, and the adoption of more energy-efficient machinery.

On the adaptation side, the plan acknowledges the need to rethink agricultural crops in light of the new climate scenario — a point particularly relevant to Transmontane olive growing. The traditional dryland olive grove, dominant in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, is by nature a model of climate resilience: centuries-old olive trees that survive without irrigation, adapted to dry summers and harsh winters, represent exactly the type of resilient agriculture that the plan seeks to promote. Preserving and enhancing these olive groves — which are also the main asset of olive oil tourism in the region — is simultaneously a climate adaptation strategy and a path toward sustainable economic development.

The CCDR-N (Northern Regional Coordination and Development Commission), through vice-president Gabriela Leite, revealed that it had launched, the previous week, a Regional Climate Action Plan that integrates and coordinates municipal and intermunicipal plans — reinforcing that climate action in Northern Portugal is gaining a territorial and strategic dimension.

Azeite a Norte recognises in this initiative a natural alignment with the objectives of the olive oil tourism project it is developing across 17 municipalities in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro. The training programme that ANa is structuring with the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) — a 50-hour course that qualifies tourism operators, producers and local guides — shares the same spirit of territorial capacity-building and community preparedness for the challenges this region faces.

Source: Lusa / Agroportal, July 14, 2026.