The European Union has set itself the objective of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050, a target that the European Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen, has described as the "greatest challenge and opportunity of our times".
The European Committee of the Regions is committed to playing a full part in achieving this objective and to ensuring that local and regional perspectives are always reflected in the European Green Deal, the EU roadmap to carbon neutrality. The Green Deal sets out objectives, principles, and tools in policy areas ranging from emissions reduction and industrial policy to agriculture and biodiversity.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas, Governor of Central Macedonia, said in his inaugural speech as President of the European Committee of the Regions in 2020 that one of his priorities would be to "translate the Green Deal into local climate action while supporting the communities who will be the most affected". President Tzitzikostas added that "the fight against climate change will be won or lost in our regions and cities". The European Committee of the Regions has been a patron of the Covenant of Mayors since its creation in 2008 and is a long-standing advocate of a greater role for regions and cities in global governance of climate action.
The #EUGreenDeal map is an emerging and evolving effort by the European Committee of the Regions to show the steps being taken across the EU by regions and cities to decarbonise the European economy. It shows how individual communities are transforming their way of living and working, of producing and consuming, and how they are trying to achieve environmentally sustainable and socially and economically just growth.
Do you want to share your Green Deal local best practice? Submit your Best Practice in our
Open Call or drop an e-mail to
enve@cor.europa.eu.
To find fuller details about our legislative and political work on climate action, please visit the page of the CoR's
Green Deal Going Local working group. The upload of the Best Practices submitted through the last call launched by the ENVE secretariat is currently ongoing.
The #FridayForFuture protests show that young people are ready to engage in the fight against climate change. Young local and regional politicians are key to translating this impetus into policies and actions to achieve climate neutrality.
In yellow on this map, you will find environmental best practices already implemented or being planned by local and regional politicians who are members of the Young Elected Politicians' network.
Check the map regularly for new stories from across the EU!