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Regional and local leaders and EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira discussed on 4 February how to accelerate the launch of new cohesion policy programmes, ensure their timely implementation and integrate them with national recovery plans.
As a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Union secured an unprecedented amount of investment for a fair, green and digital recovery. React EU, the Just Transition Fund, the European Fund for Regional Development, the Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European agricultural fund for rural development as well as the Recovery and Resilience Facility form a unique toolbox that can deliver an inclusive recovery as well as fair green and digital transitions.
Absorbing and implementing all available EU funds is a demanding challenge for national, regional and local governments. As highlighted by the plenary debate, centralisation and top down solutions risk undermine the investment impact in several member states. For this reason, CoR members and Commissioner Ferreira called for the full involvement of regional and local governments in the design of comprehensive recovery plans, in line with the partnership principle, in order to make the best possible use of the synergies between all the available instruments.
Des élus locaux de divers partis, dont Anne Hidalgo, Eric Piolle et François Grosdidier, appelle l’Etat à donner aux communes les moyens de déployer les mesures environnementales qui relèvent de leur compétence.
The present study aims to present experimentation in addressing climate change in the case of the Nilüfer Municipality in northwestern Turkey and to examine the effect of joining an international network, as a key factor that may support urban climate experiments. The research is designed as a case study built on both primary and secondary sources. The Nilüfer Municipality is selected as the case area as it is the only signatory of Mayors Adapt and one of sixteen signatories of the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) among the 1397 municipalities within the Turkish Republic. Finally, this case study shows that although local governments have not been involved in the climate change policies at the national level in the Turkish context, the Nilüfer Municipality was able to develop its own experiments by being part of a transnational network, especially after signing the Covenant of Mayors in 2014. This finding leads us to the conclusion that supranational organizations can have significant impact on the climate experiments initiation of local governments that are important actors in the implementation of policies to address climate change as a global problem.
The political and economic measures taken to revive our economy following the Corona crisis need to ensure long-term resilience of the system. Strengthening local communities will be the key to achieving this objective, says Dirk Vansintjan.
As the Green Deal becomes the EU's top priority, the European Committee of the Regions calls for greater funds and tailored programmes for communities below the municipal level, including islands, sparsely populated communities, villages and districts.
Cities are vital to limit global warming because they are home to more than half the world's population, produce 80% of gross domestic product and generate three-quarters of carbon emissions, said a report issued ahead of Monday's U.N. climate action summit.
Low-carbon measures in cities - based on already available technologies such as electric buses - could deliver over half the emissions cuts needed to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, the report said.
"It is possible and realistic to realise net-zero urban emissions by 2050," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on the report, which was produced by the Coalition for Urban Transitions.
"But to get there, we will need the full engagement of city governments combined with national action and support."
The political backdrop of the present analysis is provided by the Committee of the Regions (CoR) proposal of a Code of conduct for the involvement of the local and regional authorities in the European Semester and by the territorial analyses of the 2018 Country Reports based on Country-specific Recommendations (CSR). As a word of caution, it is important to note that the following analysis describes how the National Reform Programme (NRP) reports on the role and involvement of the Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs). It might be the case that the actual involvement of the LRAs in the preparation and implementation of NRP is not stated in the documents. The analysis followed a comparative approach between the current situation and the preceding years (from 2011 onwards, with a special focus on 2015 onwards). A major point is evident: political administrative systems do not change quickly - these systems rather evolve than change all of a sudden. Given this ‘inertia’ of the systems, one can expect that major findings in many analytical dimensions do not change or vary much over time.
Three of the main sectors contributing to global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are industry (32%), buildings (18%) and energy (11%) (including indirect emissions; IPCC, 2014). To reach a world of under 2°C of global warming without delay, we need to tackle these sectors first and foremost.
This is particularly challenging for highly industrialized regions, but effective exchange on policy successes and failures can help to speed up the transition. Through the Energy Transition Platform’s Innovation Labs, small groups of governments worked in depth on the topics of industry engagement, renewable energy and building efficiency to develop policy actions together.
For all three topics, finding an attractive narrative and ensuring stakeholders are engaged in an inclusive way are key to a to a successful clean energy transition, but often this is often not seen as a priority. Subnational governments specifically can make a significant difference here, as they bridge the gap between citizens and the national and international authorities.
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Local and regional leaders express relief at agreement, but identify major losses, uncertainties and challenges for regions and cities.
Local and regional politicians from the European Union voiced short-term relief mixed with long-term caution and concern at their first meeting with UK counterparts since the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement was settled on 24 December. Politicians from both the EU and the United Kingdom emphasised a wish to develop new ties in the wake of an agreement that ended most region-to-region programmes and envisages no role for regions in overseeing and developing the deal.
COP 26 territoriales, Grenelles du Monde d’Après, Conventions citoyennes locales, Etats généraux de la résilience… Les appels à la mobilisation générale se multiplient. Vainqueurs d’un scrutin à l’abstention sans précédent, confrontés au défi de la transition écologique et sociale dans un contexte de crise économique, nombre d’élus veulent s’inspirer des dispositifs (inter)nationaux pour engager une dynamique de transformation collective des territoires.
Localising the Sustainable Development Goals. Knowledge Dossier (Pilot)
Building on key issues identified in the 2019 Policy Lab for EUKN member Germany on ‘Urban Transformation Pathways in European Cities’, this Pilot Knowledge Dossier investigates barriers to and opportunities for the urban realisation of the SDGs. It identifies the need for enhanced vertical and horizontal coordination across levels and points to the need for a place-based approach to adaptation, implementation, and monitoring. Download
Long-term renovation strategies are a requirement of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) for all member states. Developed at national level, LTRS goes hand-in-hand with local building renovation initiatives, and both are essential to accelerating the transition towards reaching energy efficiency and climate targets.
These factsheets, prepared by BPIE and national Green Building Councils for the H2020 project Build Upon2, identify which levels of governance must cooperate during the design and implementation of long-term renovation strategies across 8 countries: Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey, and the UK. Each factsheet also highlights the status quo of the process, as well as successes and challenges that are faced at local or national level.
The Handbook of Sustainable Urban Development Strategies provides methodological support to cities, managing authorities and other stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of urban strategies under Cohesion Policy. In particular, it refers to Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) as supported by the European Regional Development Fund during the current programming period (2014-2020) and the upcoming one (2021-2027).
The Handbook is a policy learning tool, adaptable to the needs arising from different territorial and administrative contexts. It considers urban strategies as bridges between Cohesion Policy and local territorial governance systems.
This report, a collaborative effort of more than 50 organisations brought together by the Coalition for Urban Transitions, outlines the immense social and economic benefits of creating compact, connected and clean cities with net-zero emissions, and presents a clear six-part action plan for national governments around the world.
Far from being an isolated phenomenon, political change seen today in Poland is a symptom of broader trends. All over the world, voters in large cities oppose authoritarian populist parties and initiatives. And, all over the world, they are nowadays more and more likely to be defeated. Has urban politics played its part in bringing about the authoritarian populist wave? What part can it have in bringing it down?
Results of a pan-European study from the London School of Economics (LSE) collecting the views of local and regional authorities and regional parliaments on the future of Europe and the role they wish to play in a renewed Union were presented on 6 February at the meeting of the Committee of the Regions' Commission for Citizenship, Governance, Institutional and External Affairs ( CIVEX ). A majority of respondents said that their favoured path for a reformed EU would be through strengthened "multi-level governance" and greater focus on areas relevant to citizens' daily lives rather than treaty changes or new EU ministerial positions.
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