The European Committee of the Regions sets out its
positions on the climate a few months before COP26, the
26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be
held from 1 to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow
While the climate emergency is still very much a
pressing matter, the path towards carbon neutrality
must take into account the challenges posed by the
COVID-19 crisis and the specific features of each
region. Against this backdrop, rapporteur and Mayor
of Autun Vincent Chauvet presented an opinion in
today's plenary session that sets out the European
Committee of the Regions' positions and demands
regarding climate change in view of COP26, the
United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which
will take place in November 2021 in Glasgow,
Scotland.
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) fully
supports the European Union's objective of "at least a
55% reduction" in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and
the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
Nevertheless, local and regional authorities must be
actively involved in developing climate policies and
should be given the necessary tools to do so. This is
one of the main messages of the opinion on
Stepping up Europe's 2030 climate ambition
towards COP26.
At the plenary session,
Mr Chauvet
(FR/Renew Europe) said: "The EU will not be able to
achieve its climate goals without involving local and
regional authorities and giving them the necessary
means to implement measures to combat climate change. To that end, we must make the process of
accessing funding less complex and provide technical
engineering assistance. We also need to take into
account the specific features of each region to ensure
a just transition that is acceptable to all Europeans . In connection with the upcoming United
Nations Climate Conference, we call for the climate
contributions of local and regional authorities to be
measured, included and valued in national
contributions."
The Committee
renews
its call for a European regional scoreboard to be
launched to provide concrete data on climate progress
at local and regional level. In this connection, the
Committee reiterates its support for a system of
Regionally and Locally Determined Contributions (RLDCs)
to formally acknowledge, monitor and encourage the
reduction of carbon emissions by cities, local
governments and regions globally. The assembly calls on
the European Commission to work with the CoR to
formally recognise RLDCs as complementary to the
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the
Paris Climate Agreement.
The CoR therefore requests that local and regional
authorities be given a prominent role in COP26 and
suggests repeating the
Edinburgh Declaration on Biodiversity
process in order to consolidate the recognition,
commitment and accountability of local and regional
governments under the Paris Agreement and throughout
the United Nations' process to combat global warming.
The Committee calls on the partners of the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
to enhance the vertical integration of climate action
and establish a memorandum of understanding with the
CoR as the institutional representative of European
cities and regions.
The EU's assembly of local and regional representatives
urges the European Commission to jointly organise a
thematic day on local climate action in the EU during
COP26. To boost citizen engagement, the CoR calls on
all its members to organise local and regional COPs in
their communities before COP26.
Mr Chauvet's opinion draws attention to the lack of
resources available to local and regional authorities
for the implementation of measures to combat global
warming. The Committee urges the European Commission to
set up a platform, through the
European Climate Pact
, to promote the integration and complementarity of EU
funding initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Committee suggests that the
Joint Research Centre
conduct a study on the capacity of local and regional
authorities and businesses to absorb the new funds made
available under the Green Deal and the Recovery Plan.
The Committee stresses the importance of active
subsidiarity for climate policies and emphasises that
multilevel governance and subsidiarity are key to
ensuring climate neutrality and involving EU citizens
in the process. With this in mind, the Committee
reiterates its support for the
Covenant of Mayors
as an accelerator of the green transition at local and
regional level. The Committee is part of the Covenant's
Political Board and promotes this initiative through 27
of its members who make up the
Chamber of National Ambassadors of the Covenant
of Mayors
.
Furthermore, the Committee stresses the crucial
importance of ensuring appropriate pricing of fossil
emissions through emissions trading and taxation, which
should be addressed as part of a review of the EU
emissions trading system and the EU Energy Taxation
Directive.
The assembly expresses its concern about the stagnation
or even increase in emissions in the European
agricultural sector and calls on the European
Commission to take into account the investments
required for the agricultural sector's transition
towards carbon neutrality under the common agricultural
policy.
The CoR stresses that, in the energy sector, the
deployment of renewables requires both large-scale and
decentralised infrastructure planning. The Committee
also points out that, in the pursuit of its climate
objectives, the EU must take into account the different
circumstances in its regions in terms of climate,
geography, infrastructure and energy systems.
Further information:
Vincent Chauvet
is a member of the European Committee of the Regions'
Green Deal Going Local
working group.
The EU's assembly of local and regional representatives
points out that local and regional authorities
implement 70% of all EU legislation, 70% of climate
change mitigation measures and 90% of climate change
adaptation policies.
According to information published by NewClimate
Institute in December 2020, European cities and regions
for which net-zero emissions targets have been set now
cover more than 162 million people (36% of the EU's
population).
Contact:
David Crous
david.crous@cor.europa.eu
+32 (0) 470 88 10 37