The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is urging for accelerated, responsible and multilevel action to keep the world on track for achieving the pollution reduction, climate and biodiversity targets and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a socially and economically just manner and within the planetary boundaries. In an opinion adopted at the plenary session on 19 June, cities and regions are calling to build more synergies between the biodiversity, climate and sustainable development agendas to develop a Global Green Deal framework. The opinion presents the CoR's political priorities for the climate and biodiversity COPs and the UN Summit of the Future in the second half of 2024.
Local and regional leaders are concerned that the world is not on track to achieve the SDGs, that it risks overshooting the 1.5°C objective of the Paris Agreement and that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. The triple planetary crises should be addressed with an overarching and global strategy that recognises the cities' and regions' crucial role in achieving global targets, driving societal change and engaging citizens. While the European Green Deal can serve as example at global level, regions and cities consider that there's a need to improve multilevel governance structures and direct finance for local and regional levels.
The Pact for the Future, to be adopted at the UN Summit of the Future in New York in September, could be the first step towards a Global Green Deal. The CoR stresses that the Pact should include commitments to align the biodiversity, climate, pollution, desertification and SDG action plans and to involve subnational governments effectively in biodiversity, climate and SDG planning, financing and monitoring. The UN Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments should become a permanent body able to implement the multilevel governance in all UN processes.
COP29: Boosting climate finance and stepping up multilevel action
In the field of climate and energy policy, the CoR is calling for a phase-out of all fossil fuels, without placing disproportionately high costs on fossil-fuel-reliant cities and regions, and to ramp up investment in green technology, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. Local and regional leaders stress that this year's COP29 climate conference, to be held in Azerbaijan in November, should result in an ambitious new collective quantified goal on climate finance, covering the critical need for direct financing to subnational governments as well as international climate finance for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage.
The European Union's official negotiation position at the COP29 should again recognise the leadership of cities and regions in accelerating and broadening climate mitigation and adaptation action. The EU, its Member States and all Parties to the Paris Agreement should implement the Coalition for High Ambition Multilevel Partnerships (CHAMP) launched at the COP28 last year by including subnational climate commitments, actions and achievements in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Long-Term Strategies and National Adaptation Plans, starting from the revision of the NDCs planned by COP30.
Ahead of the biodiversity COP16 and following the adoption of the Nature Restoration Law by the EU Council this week, the CoR points out that significant gaps remain in the EU in terms of multilevel governance, planning, implementation, financing and monitoring of local biodiversity action. The CoR, which has been recognised as a key partner in the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework, advocates for the inclusion of contributions from subnational governments into the National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans.
Quotes:
Co-rapporteur Rafał Trzaskowski (PL/EPP), chair of the CoR's ENVE Commission and Mayor of Warsaw: "It is clear that the success of the European Green Deal depends largely on the active engagement of our cities and regions. Our role in implementing sustainable projects is essential for the wellbeing of our communities, the competitiveness of our regional economies and the health of our planet. We have to put the needs and challenges of the people, of our local businesses and of our territories at the centre, if we want to succeed in the green transition. We need a better multilevel governance to build and implement the green transition together. We need direct financing to achieve the climate and biodiversity objectives as well as the SDGs. We need a better communication about an added value of the Global Green Deal, we need to show the citizens the benefits they get in terms of health, wellbeing, new jobs, clean air, innovative solutions - only then we can convince them we are going in the right direction."
Co-rapporteur Kata Tüttö (HU/PES), vice-chair of the CoR's ENVE Commission and Deputy Mayor of Budapest: “This forward-looking opinion wants to bring together climate change, biodiversity conservation and restoration and sustainable development and emphasizes the importance of decentralisation and bottom-up approaches. Decisions taken by UN bodies and by the EU end up on the table of local and regional authorities for implementation. Therefore, the design of these policies also needs a stronger role of cities and regions. The EU has developed an overarching strategy to deal with the triple planetary crisis that is climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss in a comprehensive way and with a more holistic approach: the European Green Deal, which we need to preserve and make go global."
More information:
The UNFCCC COP29 - UN Climate Change Conference – will take place this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 22 November. Read more about the CoR delegation to the COP29.
The UN Summit of the Future in New York aims at creating the conditions in which implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can more readily be achieved. Germany and Namibia, co-facilitators of the Summit, have released the zero draft of the Pact for the Future which will be negotiated and endorsed by countries in the lead-up to and during the Summit on 22-23 September. CoR President Vasco Cordeiro and ENVE chair Rafał Trzaskowski will represent the voice of EU cities and regions at the Summit.
The 2024 UN Biodiversity Conference COP16 will be hosted by Colombia in Cali, with the participation of President Cordeiro and ENVE vice-chair Kata Tüttö. The CoR has been explicitly recognised as a key partner in implementing the Plan of Action on Subnational Governments, Cities and Other Local Authorities for Biodiversity under the Convention on Biological Diversity (2021-2030).
Contact:
Lauri Ouvinen
Tel. +32 473 536 887
[email protected]