On 7 March, the 12th meeting of the
Green Deal Going Local (GDGL) working group
adopted its 2023 roadmap and discussed ways to
boost green investments and innovative
financing to allow local and regional
authorities to push the climate-neutral
transition forward.
The 2023 roadmap includes three main political
objectives: reinforcing multi-level governance,
mobilising financial resources and moving
towards a fairer Green Deal.
Rafał Trzaskowski (PL/EPP), Mayor of Warsaw and Chair of the
ENVE commission
and of the
Green Deal Going Local
working group, said: "
Local and regional leaders play a key role in
delivering the Green Deal on the ground. We are
strongly committed to diversify away from
Russian energy imports, help citizens and SMEs
with their energy bills, and cooperate with
private local investors to boost sustainable
investment in order to meet the climate
neutrality objectives. However, the energy
transition can only happen if we have proper
financial and technical resources.
Unfortunately, in many Member States, we cannot
count on help from national governments. That
is why cities and regions reiterate their call
for direct EU funding to make public buildings
more energy-efficient, public transport
greener, and renewable energy more accessible
to our citizens."
Hanna Zdanowska (PL/EPP), Mayor of Łódź, said:
"The green transformation is a great
opportunity to modernise public infrastructure
and strengthen local economies. But in order to
invest, we need adequate financial resources.
Unfortunately, most local governments are not
able to generate sufficient funds to implement
their ecological aspirations. For instance, to
realise our dreams of a green Łódź, we need at
least EUR 1.7 billion by 2030 for 77 projects,
of which 65 will not be implemented without
external financial support. Today, the
flexibility of Polish local governments is very
limited, with repayable financial mechanisms
currently not available to us. Therefore, I
call for non-repayable funds for the
implementation of climate goals."
Joško Klisović (HR/PES)
, President of the Assembly of the city of Zagreb,
said:
"We are at the final big policy push before
next year's European elections. Social
Democrats will fight to guarantee the fairness
of the green and digital transitions with a
solid cohesion policy. Now that we have
ambitious EU energy and climate targets, we
need an effective implementation mechanism with
multi-level governance at its core. The
regulation on the 'Governance of the Energy
Union and Climate Action' will be soon revised.
We want it to be ambitious in its approach and
to become the backbone for the governance of
the future European Green Deal!"
József Kóbor (HU/EA), member of the local government of Pécs, said:
"There is a need for more clarity on the way
the Green Deal objectives are delivered on the
ground. If the EU is to achieve its targets, it
should avoid sending mixed messages on topical
issues such as Taxonomy, where only truly green
investments should be supported."
Referring to electric mobility
and pointing to the case of Hungary, Mr
Kóbor warned against the EU's reliance on a single
supplier for the production of batteries and called for more support to implement the Green
Deal, stressing that
"We receive a lot of support for planning but
it is now key to move on and find resources and
investors to deliver concrete projects with
tangible impact"
.
Sebastian Łukaszewicz (PL/ECR), Deputy President of the Podlaskie region, said:
"Public finance from Member States and EU
programmes is not enough to provide the funds
needed to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
The
transition brings serious challenges and it
will have asymmetric social, environmental and
economic effects that may cause new disparities
between regions. Therefore, private finance
will be needed to help municipalities, local
authorities, and local public entities
in meeting the ambitious climate targets and
implementing energy action plans by helping
them overcome major barriers in accessing
finance. Without this commitment, it will be
difficult for the EU to remain competitive."
In a debate on the future of the Green Deal, the
European Commission's Elisa Roller
announced a series of upcoming proposals, including
a net-zero plan for industry, a proposal for a
critical raw materials act and a plan to create a
hydrogen bank, in addition to the update of the
EU's taxonomy
expected in June 2023.
Members exchanged views on the revision of the
Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) from a Green
Deal perspective with European Commission's DG BUDG Bernhard Windisch. CoR members
called for additional funds to accelerate the
climate-neutral transition and to increase direct
budget lines for local and regional authorities –
following the example of the
EU Missions in Horizon Europe.
The CoR's
COTER
commission is currently working on an opinion
entitled 'Mid-term review of the
Multiannual Financial Framework: the regional and
local viewpoint'. The
opinion, whose rapporteur is
Thomas Habermann (DE/EPP)
, District Commissioner of Rhön-Grabfeld, is to be
adopted in May 2023.
In an exchange on how to bridge the Green Deal
funding gap, The EU's
CINEA
agency presented specific programmes that support
cities and regions in delivering green projects on
the ground, such as the
European City Facility
and the newly launched
Green Assist, a new investment advisory service under
InvestEU
. Green Assist is funded by the
LIFE programme
and aims to help establish a pipeline for green
investment projects with a high impact.
Dana Eleftheriadou
from the European Commission's DG GROW presented
the
Intelligent Cities Challenge, an instrument to develop Local Green Deals, boost
local economies and support SMEs in reskilling and
upskilling the workforce with the aim of delivering
the green and digital transitions.
The next meeting of the GDGL working group will
take place on 30 May in Brussels.
Background:
The working documents of the meeting are available
here.
You can also watch the meeting
here.
Green Deal Going Local
is a flagship initiative of the European Committee
of the Regions that aims at placing cities and
regions at the heart of the EU’s climate-neutral
transition.
Contact:
David Crous //
david.crous@cor.europa.eu
// +32 (0) 470 881 037