The opinion is a follow-up to the 2020 opinion on climate adaptation, prompted by the release of the New EU Strategy for Adaptation to Climate change. As such, the main objective of the opinion is to update the viewpoint represented in the 2020 opinion.
The opinion aims to support and engage local and regional authorities within the announced Policy Support Facility of the European Commission
The opinion also aims to support and engage local and regional authorities with the relevant Horizon Europe missions
Building on the foundation of the opinion on adaptation from 2020, this opinion provided a renewed view on the topic of climate adaptation. It has significantly strengthened cooperation with the European Commission on the Horizon Europe Mission on Adaptation - promoting the first call within the mission, agreeing to coorganize a joint event on adaptation in the future. Furthermore, it was instrumental in positioning the CoR as a key ally in the roll-out of the Policy Support Facility on Adaptation under the Covenant of Mayors and DG CLIMA.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- welcomes the European Commission's call in the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change for cities and regions, along with the CoR, to pave the way to a higher level of ambition on climate resilience;
- calls for high levels of engagement from cities and regions in preparing their climate roadmaps and Green Deal Going Local action plans, as the bedrock of efforts to tackle climate change and with a view to preventing the unadaptable and adapting to the unpreventable;
- strongly supports the creation of a Policy Support Facility aimed at providing direct technical assistance to help develop and implement their adaptation strategies and stands ready to support the design and implementation of this facility;
- calls for faster adaptation and implementation of the planned EU Missions on "Adaptation to Climate Change" and "Climate-Neutral Cities" and other relevant missions like soil, health and oceans, once they are endorsed;
- calls for focus on the carbon handprint, by showing the positive impact that climate-friendly products and services create in terms of sustainability, based on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals;
- calls for the assistance to cities and regions to find the right combination of public and private funds for adaptation action, from international, European, national, and local sources; calls for red tape to be reduced and access to EU funding to be simplified.