EN Official Journal of the European Union C 9/1

Resolution of the Committee of the Regions on ‘The Road to Durban: Towards the 17th United Nations Conference on Climate Change’

2012/C 9/01

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Climate change has not gone away; sub-national governments reaffirm their commitment

1. points out that there is incontrovertible scientific proof of climate change and its consequences; timely, coordinated, ambitious and internationally binding measures must therefore be adopted, without delay, in order to tackle this global challenge;

2. urges European and international leaders to remain focused on the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and to dedicate the necessary resources to these goals despite the sovereign debt crisis; underlines in this context that investment in infrastructure to mitigate and to adapt to climate change, as well as a more general move to a green economy, may well be the only way to overcome the current problems;

3. reaffirms its commitment to ambitious targets and measures in order to limit global warming to a maximum of 2 degrees as expressed in a resolution on the Cancún Climate Summit and in an opinion on international climate policy of 2010, as well as the Council Conclusions (1);

4. stresses the urgent need, consistent with European commitments, to reach an internationally legally binding agreement in Durban succeeding the Kyoto Protocol under the remit of the United Nations and calls for the international agreement to build upon the advances of the Cancún conference which gave recognition to the crucial role of sub-national government, encouraging and supporting action at local and regional level to build a low-carbon ‘green’ economy;

5. believes that the investments required will not only help to mitigate climate change, but will also contribute significantly to generating sustainable economic growth in Europe, create jobs, provide much needed income, and thus help to reduce public debt;

6. welcomes, therefore, the timely report by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (2) which calls for sustained policies and long-term programmes of investment in low-carbon power generation in order to achieve a substantial decrease of greenhouse gas emissions;

7. in this respect, as agreed at the Cancún summit, calls on the Parties to make operational the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Committee, and to grant an easy access to civil society and local and regional authorities to these instruments;

8. welcomes the ambition to increase the proportion of climate related expenditure to at least 20 % in the context of the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework beyond 2013, and encourages international leaders to take similar measures;

The power of partnership

9. recognises that global climate change goals can only be achieved if, on the one hand, future emissions reductions are distributed fairly across the whole of the international community, with due consideration to the different capabilities and starting positions of countries and regions, and, on the other hand, a worldwide consensus for decisive action is established, backed by common standards for regular monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV); welcomes the introduction of the Mexico City Pact and the carbonn Cities Climate Registry as the global response of sub-national governments to MRV climate action;

10. strongly welcomes the recognition of local and regional governments as key ‘governmental stakeholders’ in global climate change efforts at the COP16 in Cancún and calls for an equal recognition in the post-Kyoto Protocol agreement, and therefore asks for them to be empowered and equipped with resources and given access to funding;

11. calls for climate policy goals to be factored into social development at the earliest possible stage, providing financial support, climate partnerships, development of human capital and know-how to generate low-carbon economic growth, combat desertification and develop sustainable forestry management; in this regards, calls for further action to be taken concerning the implementation of the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) programme;

12. notes that urban areas produce 75 % of carbon emissions and underlines that effective global action requires a multi-level governance approach involving a coordination of efforts between the local, regional, national and supra-national levels of government based on the principle of subsidiarity; in this respect, emphasizes that a ‘Territorial Pact of Regional and Local Authorities on the Europe 2020 Strategy’ as proposed by the EU's Committee of the Regions is a very important tool in tackling climate change;

13. therefore urges all sub-national governments in the world to invest in the fight against climate change, raise public awareness, mobilise public political support, increase the ownership of the process, enhance business investment and new business models, mobilise funding sources, and motivate the producers and consumers to change their behaviour to create a resource-efficient society and a more climate friendly economy;

14. highlights the efforts of cities and regions across Europe that have adopted local or regional climate and energy strategies with specific climate mitigation targets and, for example, signed up to the Covenant of Mayors, aiming to reduce the CO2 emissions by at least 20 % by the year 2020;

15. also highlights the efforts of island regions which have agreed to draw up an energy action strategy under the Covenant of Islands aimed at attaining or even exceeding the EU targets for sustainable energy and combating climate change;

16. believes that the expertise of the EU's local and regional authorities in this area should be made available to sub-national government in other parts of the world;

17. recalls the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, reaffirms its commitment to developing further this particular transatlantic cooperation, and is ready to consider similar types of cooperation with counterparts in other parts of the world;

18. considers that it is absolutely essential to raise awareness of the challenges posed by global warming and to involve the citizens in programmes to promote renewable energy. The success of these programmes require both citizens' awareness and ownership, as well as broad information that will lead to the largest mobilisation of public opinion; a good example here might be involving citizens in programmes to promote renewable energy at an early stage;

Towards a sustainable world

19. stresses that the vision of a resource-efficient low-carbon economy requires a new industrial revolution involving all levels of government, individuals, businesses, universities, and research centres, and encourages these actors to share their ideas and experience across national borders to foster a bottom-up approach;

20. calls for mainstreaming of environmental policy and climate change action priorities into other policy areas to maximise synergies between them, recognising that the same actions can and should pursue a variety of complementary objectives;

21. points out that we need a holistic approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation which requires transformations in many sectors such as mobility, buildings, food, waste management, recycling and reuse of products, and the use of land and urban spaces, financial incentives for low-carbon investments, a new focus on the ecological footprint over the life-cycle of products and services, and integration of sustainable behaviour patterns into education and training;

22. calls upon the Parties to give greater attention to climate related Research and Innovation activities and programmes, and urges the Member States to make sure all sub-national governments dispose of adequate financial means to address this challenge;

23. asks therefore for appropriate conditions to be put in place in order to implement the necessary changes to the energy infrastructure swiftly and to enable smart grids so that, for example, depending on the situation locally, individual households, small and medium sized businesses, local authorities and cooperatives can generate their own green energy and share it peer-to-peer across regions; calls on the European Commission to convene a special conference with local and regional authorities and relevant stakeholders to kick-start the transformation of Europe's energy production and distribution, thus providing a framework for others to follow;

24. supports emission trading schemes as a means to address climate change; in the EU context encourages Member States to use the full revenues of the EU scheme to support low carbon research and green investments;

The CoR in Durban

25. recalls that the EU, in order to be a credible force for change, must lead by example, including the adoption and implementation of ambitious and binding targets such as those for the reduction of CO2 emissions, renewable energy and energy efficiency;

26. sees in the results from Cancún a role for the local and regional level and assumes responsibility here;

27. offers to bring its specialist expertise and know-how to the negotiation process in Durban and to play an active role in shaping it;

28. expects to be regularly consulted on European and international climate negotiations and will therefore seek a close cooperation with the European Commission, Parliament and Council;

29. calls on the relevant Parties to ensure the coherence between the decisions to be taken at the Durban climate conference and the Rio+20 conference;

30. instructs the CoR President to submit the present resolution to the President of the European Council, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the UNFCCC.

Brussels, 12 October 2011. The President of the Committee of the Regions Mercedes BRESSO

(1) Council Conclusions of 14 March 2011 on the follow-up to the Cancun Conference, and IPCC's Special Report on Renewable Energy.

Sources and Climate Mitigation of 9 May 2011.

(2) LONG-TERM TREND IN GLOBAL CO2 EMISSIONS – 2011 joint report by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.