The
Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform
, a joint initiative of the European Committee of
the Regions (CoR) and the European Commission (EC),
held its third meeting on 11 October, focusing on
the
Zero Pollution Action Plan
’s role in supporting cities and regions to reduce
air, water and soil pollution in the EU.
Cities and regions have a vital role in achieving the
EU’s zero pollution ambition, particularly through
improving their own local environment. The Zero
Pollution Action Plan’s dedicated flagship initiatives
on ‘Supporting urban zero pollution action’ and
‘Promoting zero pollution across regions’ are key to
this. These were some of the key messages shared by the
participants during the
European Week of Regions and Cities
(#EURegionsWeek), the biggest annual Brussels-based
event on cohesion policy.
Virginijus Sinkevičius
, European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime
Affairs and Fisheries, said:
“All round the Union, we see progress and dynamism,
in cities and regions that are drivers for change.
Major cities are committing to goals for air,
water, biodiversity, waste and noise, to be reached
by the end of the decade. One hundred cities have
already joined the EU Green City Accord. The Accord
is a credible, practical framework, helping cities
become healthier, cleaner and greener. It also
supports the local delivery of the European Green
Deal, and the urban dimension of the Zero Pollution
Action Plan."
From the European Committee of the Regions,
Markku Markkula (FI/EPP)
, Vice Co-chair of the Zero-Pollution Stakeholder
Platform and president of the Helsinki region, said:
"We must speed up cooperation and increase
synergies to tackle the pollution challenges we are
facing. The Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform has
great potential to act as a multiplier of knowledge
exchange and the roll-out of new technologies and
societal innovations that a broad spectrum of
actors is developing at the forefront of scientific
and social development. I encourage all
stakeholders to play an active role in the
platform, join the new
EU mission on soils
and make the most of the the
New European Innovation Agenda
to tackle soil, air and water pollution in every
territory."
Mr Markkula, a former CoR president, is a member of the
Espoo city council and of the CoR’s
Green Deal Going Local
working group.
Maria Neira, Director for Environment, Climate Change
and Health at the World Health Organization, stressed
that:
“Mayors have direct competences and impact on
citizens’ daily lives, including urban planning,
housing, transport and air pollution. Local
leaders’ work is therefore pivotal to protecting
citizens’ health and living conditions. The WHO
supports the EU’s zero pollution strategy for seven
million reasons. The same seven million citizens
who die prematurely every year due to their
exposure to air pollution. We must place health
upfront all our policies, from economic development
to climate action.”
Over 100 cities in the EU still do not meet EU
air-quality standards and seven EU capital cities do
not meet the minimum water-quality requirements. To
address this, stakeholders discussed financing,
innovation and governance for zero pollution in cities,
including actions and lessons learned from frontrunner
urban areas. Participants also debated the
Green City Accord
, the role of
Smart Cities
and synergies with the
Cities Mission
, the
Urban Agenda
, the
New European Bauhaus
, the
Covenant of Mayors
,
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans
and other initiatives.
To promote zero pollution across regions, the European
Commission is developing a 'scoreboard' of EU regions’
green performance. The meeting discussed how this will
measure the efforts of EU regions to achieve
pollution-reduction targets, driving a race towards
zero pollution, forming the basis to reward the best
performances and enabling citizens to check progress
over time.
In addition, the meeting focused on phasing out
pollution from pharmaceuticals in cities and regions,
including advancing the
EU’s “Pharmaceuticals in the Environment”
Strategy.
In direct relation with the
Zero Pollution Action Plan
, the European Committee of the Regions is adopting, at
the
plenary session
this week, an opinion on the
'Revision of the Industrial Emissions
Directive'
, by rapporteur
Jean-Noël Verfaillie
(FR/Renew Europe). The draft opinion includes proposals
for addressing industrial pollution at the local and
regional levels, such as redirecting penalties and
compensatory payments to cities and regions to tackle
the environmental, health, social and economic impacts
of industrial pollution.
Background:
Click here
to access the documents of the third meeting of the
Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform. The meeting was
preceded by a
high-level session as part of the 2022 European
Week of Regions and Cities.
The Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform was launched in
June 2021. Information on workshops and other events
are available on the Platform’s
web page.
The first meeting of the Zero Pollution Stakeholder
Platform took place on 16 December 2021 with the
presence of the Commissioner for the Environment,
Oceans and Fisheries
Virginijus Sinkevičius
and the President of the European Committee of the
Regions and Governor of the Region of Central Macedonia
in Greece,
Apostolos Tzitzikostas
. You can read the press release
here
and watch the session
here.
The second meeting of the Zero Pollution Stakeholder
Platform took place on 25 April 2022, co-chaired by
Patrick Child, Deputy Director General of DG
Environment of the European Commission, and
Marieke Schouten
(NL/Greens), Alderman of the municipality of
Nieuwegein. You can read the press release and watch
the session
here.
Green Deal Going Local
is the CoR initiative to place cities and regions at
the heart of the EU’s transition towards climate
neutrality.
Contacts:
David Crous
Tel. +32 (0)470 88 10 37
David.Crous@cor.europa.eu
Theresa Sostmann
Tel. +32 2 282 24 57
Theresa.Sostmann@cor.europa.eu