Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — Fostering the potential and synergies of the EU Green Deal initiatives for regions and cities
Date: 2023-07-06
Institutions: Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy, European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: EU environmental policy, EU initiative, carbon neutrality, circular economy, climate change, energy efficiency, green economy, pollution control measures, regional and local authorities, sustainable development








C_202300249EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/249


26.10.2023






Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions — Fostering the potential and synergies of the EU Green Deal initiatives for regions and cities
(C/2023/249)













Rapporteur:



Andries GRYFFROY (BE/EA), Member of the Flemish Parliament









POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR),








1.


welcomes the opportunities provided by a variety of EU initiatives for cities and regions to accelerate the green transition and facilitate the implementation of the EU Green Deal at local and regional level, which contribute to closing the gap between Brussels and local communities. This opinion aims to provide recommendations to increase the impact on the ground of these initiatives;












2.


witnesses the very critical global situation, where the need to find solutions to the triple planetary crisis (1) is threatened by unstable geopolitical situations, and fossil fuels are used as weapons making European societies and economies vulnerable to volatile energy prices. The solutions can only become reality if we rely on our cities and regions;












3.


underlines that the road towards climate neutrality requires a deep transformation of regions and cities and of Europe’s economy as a whole; in this regard, recalls the work carried out under the political leadership of the CoR’s Green Deal Going Local working group;












4.


notes, at this current moment in time, an increasing sense of general fatigue among local and regional authorities vis-a-vis new commitments and initiatives, although the need to accelerate the energy and climate transition have never been greater;












5.


encourages, therefore, a general shift in focus from EU debates on Green Deal policy objectives and planning processes towards implementing projects and prototyping pragmatic solutions on the ground, including overcoming barriers local and regional authorities face, e.g. limited staff and financial resources;












6.


considers that the outcomes of the Conference on the Future of Europe have given a clear priority to the green transition and the need to recognise the role of local and regional authorities while involving citizens in this process. By focusing on transparent, open-source reporting of achievements and their impact, a greater connection will be established between the objectives and the efforts of citizens and local and regional stakeholders. True multi-level governance and active subsidiarity need to be promoted from the conception of policies to their execution. In this regard, it is imperative that LRAs are consulted and that all legislative proposals take into account the necessary territorial impact.












7.


draws attention to the structural challenges islands and outermost regions face as a result of their vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters;












8.


suggests initiatives such as the EU Climate Pact to offer citizens, especially young people, opportunities to work on local and regional projects and develop ‘green’ skills. For this purpose, it invites the European Commission to build synergies with Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps and the European Social Fund programmes, and to make proposals in the context of the 2023 European Year of Skills. In this context, LRAs are key for enabling concrete conversations on skills needs and identifying gaps in skills and tools to develop suitable programmes and related solutions.





Creating more impact from EU initiatives for local and regional authorities delivering on the Green Deal









9.


considers this variety of many Green Deal-related initiatives, which focus on specific but interconnected topics, to be fruitful. However, the Committee highlights that the proliferation of and competition between initiatives might not correspond to an equivalent increase in their measurable impact, as this proliferation might hamper the accessibility and inclusivity of the initiatives for a wider group of local and regional authorities, beyond the few ‘usual suspects’ who have more means and capacities;












10.


suggests, therefore, a comprehensive assessment and revision of the initiatives and their implementation contracts in order to better understand whether more impact could be generated with a similar budget by, on the one hand, promoting stronger synergies, pooling efforts and preventing overlaps and, on the other, following a more user-centric, flexible and needs-driven approach, limiting mandatory reporting requirements to a few essential indicators, which takes into account the local and regional authorities’ different needs and national contexts;












11.


recognises the transformative power the Covenant of Mayors has had on local climate and energy policies by encouraging thousands of cities, towns and villages representing over 60 % of EU’s population to take ambitious actions;












12.


calls for the EU Missions to be recognised as an example of cross-policy integrated initiatives building on the principle of multilevel governance; further calls for financial support to be provided to the selected cities and regions so that they offer considerable experimentation potential for prototyping, have a positive impact, and lead to practices and innovation being replicated in other cities;












13.


calls, furthermore, for dedicated learning environments based on the model of the URBACT communities to be set up in order to foster replication in as many cities and regions as possible. This would create more impact using the existing EU financial and capacity resources by redesigning the conditions for mutually reinforcing capacity-building and financial assistance;












14.


highlights that getting rid of silos and adopting a systemic approach to policy development must start at EU level: the management of EU Missions represents a significant step forward in this sense, which requires steadfast support from the future Commission too. The Committee therefore calls for a clearer alignment of the EU initiatives’ objectives and scope with the Green Deal objectives and for them to be linked with the SDGs framework;












15.


believes that the implementation of the Green Deal must pay particular attention to the social and economic impact in line with the SDGs. Calls on the Commission to continue the support to the European Energy Poverty Advisory Hub (EPAH), disseminate good practices and adopt guidelines for the implementation of the Social Climate Fund at local and regional level;












16.


stresses that there is a need to develop long-term and structural synergies including vertical integration of the initiatives into national and regional supportive frameworks for local authorities;












17.


points out that in order to increase impact, this integration must follow a three-way logic:






i.


Multilevel financial integration: aligning funding instruments including cohesion policy funds with the supportive initiatives and co-funded by the national or regional governments; local and regional authorities can maximise the impact of EU initiatives by effectively leveraging funding and resources available at the European, national and local levels and explore innovative financing mechanisms, such as public-private partnerships and crowdfunding, to further amplify the impact of Green Deal initiatives;










ii.


Operational integration: pooling efforts of EU supportive initiatives horizontally;










iii.


Needs-driven supporting services and multilevel governance integration: including local efforts within the National Energy and Climate Plans supported by a structural political dialogue;
















18.


calls on the co-legislators to launch a new EU chapter on local and regional policies for the Green Deal, building on the experience of the Green Deal Going Local initiative of the Committee of the Regions and embedding its narrative and principles in all major EU funding and supporting programmes. Within this chapter local and regional authorities can create more impact by collaborating and networking with other similar authorities within their region, across their country, and at the European level: best practices, exchange knowledge and expertise, and leverage resources to amplify the impact of EU initiatives. Building partnerships with other stakeholders such as NGOs, businesses, and academic institutions can also enhance the impact of Green Deal initiatives. The Committee of the Regions stands ready to provide all necessary support in the design phase of this chapter, and to take a leading role in mobilising and engaging local and regional authorities in implementation;












19.


calls for the adoption of a bottom up and place-based approach, based on flexible frameworks adjustable to local needs and enabling the application of the New European Bauhaus principles at the local level. This is an opportunity to promote the interaction between urban and rural areas, to take into account the specific challenges of peripheral and outermost regions, mountain regions and of islands, also fostering cross-border cooperation;












20.


emphasises the importance of monitoring outcomes in an integrated and smart way. Substantial progress has been made on monitoring targets in terms of CO2 equivalents, but further emphasis on smart monitoring is needed to track progress in other areas such as biodiversity, water management or circular economy. These monitoring systems should be fully aligned with national requirements and should not create additional burdens to local and regional authorities;












21.


reiterates the need for cities and regions to build their Green Deal transition plans in close cooperation with citizens, stakeholders and enterprises and to set clear and concrete targets: to this end, it calls on the European Commission to further reinforce support schemes, like the European Climate Pact, in this field and to ensure that the goals proposed in its initiatives are easy to communicate to the wider public, as in the cases of the Flemish Local Climate Pact (2) and of the Climate Pact 2.0 in Luxembourg;





A new chapter for European supportive initiatives as a cornerstone in the multilevel governance framework









22.


invites the European Commission to upscale the Covenant of Mayors by exploiting stronger synergies with other initiatives as well as promoting a new multilevel governance framework. This upscaled Covenant of Mayors could become the umbrella initiative, inspired by and building on the Green Deal Going Local initiative managed by the Committee. The Committee stands ready to support the process and ensure its political rootedness;












23.


suggests that the new Covenant of Mayors could additionally envisage a modular system based on a single political commitment towards the implementation of the Green Deal, then translated into science-based action plans tailored to the local realities, hence at the same time giving local and regional authorities the freedom to flexibly choose the thematic areas (mitigation, adaptation, energy poverty, sustainable mobility, air quality, water management, biodiversity, etc.) they are willing to start focusing on, based on their different starting points and needs, with a view to gradually include others. Such a system would allow on the one hand well equipped local and regional authorities to tackle all areas in a systemic way from the very start, for instance following the approach of the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission Cities. On the other hand, would allow for a more inclusive approach and for engaging local and regional authorities that face more structural barriers;












24.


calls on the European Commission to revise the landscape of EU Green Deal Initiatives with a view to maximising synergies amongst them and integrating the commitment-level (e.g. for instance, based on the Green City Accord and Circular Cities and regions initiative) within this broader menu without losing the ‘tangibility’ aspects;












25.


highlights that the request for political pledges needs to be better connected with implementation mechanisms and direct funding in order to ensure that the political commitment can be followed by consequent actions. In this sense, the Committee recalls the need to build systematic links between the development of Sustainable Energy and Climate Plans of the Covenant of Mayors, and its potential future development, and access to facilities offering sectoral technical and financial assistance, as is the case with the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub and the European City Facility;












26.


suggests the regional/national governments as well as energy agencies could help channel the EU supportive initiatives, in terms of technical support and capacity-building, to small municipalities, rural and remote areas, and islands thus enhancing their inclusive character, including in the framework of cohesion policy. The Committee asks the European Commission to support structures in Member States so that they can develop their own capacities to advise small towns and villages e.g. via strengthened the role of Covenant Coordinators also capitalising and upscaling the ManagEnergy network;












27.


considers the particular DNA of each region and city and suggests not trying to squeeze them into a ‘one size fits all’ approach, paying particular attention to regions with specific territorial and demographic characteristics. Networks and EU-funded supportive initiatives should provide for sufficient flexibility to adapt to certain characteristics and tailor the support to local and regional needs focusing on creating enabling frameworks to accelerate implementation;












28.


stresses that EU initiatives should enhance synergies and capitalise on national and regional initiatives underway in many Member States These initiatives often allow for close practical cooperation between local, regional and national authorities within common frameworks. It is important for EU initiatives to allow for and support heterogeneous bottom-up development, rather than pursuing top-down development;












29.


calls on the European Commission to work towards a new shared visual identity for the Covenant of Mayors in order to clearly present it as an umbrella/framework initiative while ensuring consistency and harmonised language with all others initiatives. It is important to build on existing brands in order to improve stable outreach and communication and at the same time make sure the EU visual identity is strongly reflected and easily recognisable in the initiative(s) branding;












30.


highlights the importance of the monitoring methodology as a way of promoting enthusiasm and local and regional engagement, while preventing it from becoming an administrative burden with limited added value in terms of communication and support to local and regional planning. The Committee calls for the new chapter of the supportive framework to tap into the power of visualisation, digital innovation and storytelling strategies to increase the mobilisation effect. Providing insights into the shared benefits of the climate transition, by tracking progress with tangible improvements to Europeans’ livelihoods, increases trust in how taxpayers’ money is spent and increases the buy-in to contribute via behavioural change;












31.


considers that methodology proposed for the monitoring of local and regional targets should have a solid scientific foundation, and be based on the specific contribution to the EU Green Deal, in the same way that the NDCs contribute to the UN Paris Agreement. This methodology should be compatible with the one used at national level within the framework of the National Energy and Climate Plans. Making this accessible via a visually intuitive platform should increase the sense of accountability of all local governments and feed into the national reporting framework while allowing for monitoring the transition to climate neutrality at national or regional level according to the division of competences in the Member States;












32.


understands that there is no silver bullet solution for Europe-wide monitoring. The Committee suggests a validation, verification or supportive mechanism to scientifically agree on contributions to create local and regional ownership and accountability. Politically, the progress of this contribution should be discussed within each local and regional council, enlarging the democratic support base, transparency and therefore wider public acceptance, including participation of local enterprises;












33.


points to the untapped potential of further innovation in automating the monitoring process via satellite data, artificial intelligence, digital twinning etc. and thus avoiding methodologies that are causing an excessive administrative burden locally and regionally. In this sense, the Committee calls on the European Commission to further explore open source, interoperable digital data platforms, which can have a major impact on triggering further innovations including software applications — crucial for local and regional climate and energy projects to thrive. Furthermore, this can encourage citizen participation and all types of business, including SMEs and start ups, to prosper;












34.


invites the European Commission to support in-depth integration of local and regional governments’ efforts and contributions. This reporting and monitoring system needs to be made compatible with National Energy and Climate Plans and include clear indicators for local and regional authorities without increasing reporting burdens. In this sense, the JRC could play a crucial role in linking the Covenant methodology to the national ones and ensure the compatibility of SECAPs with the respective national frameworks to build a sound and data-driven multilevel energy and climate governance. Covenant Coordinators and energy agencies can play a key role in supporting local authorities to implement these schemes and get access to data. In the spirit of policy consistency, further efforts should be made to better support local and regional authorities in monitoring and reporting progress towards the implementation of the whole Green Deal; a first step could be the harmonization of the Covenant of Mayors and the Green City Accord frameworks;












35.


calls on the European Commission to analyse and reflect on the balanced channelling of financial support (grants) via calls for proposals, with a view to avoid that only a relatively small group of cities with sufficient resources to apply to the grants schemes are being supported. Besides this risk, the sustainability of the project, beyond its duration, should also be evaluated, and whether grant-dependency is actually reduced by these efforts;












36.


calls for the next chapter of the Covenant of Mayors to better link the planning phase (SECAPs, SUMPs) to the implementation phase, inspired by the first examples of the Climate City (investment) Contracts under the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, focusing on the bankability of the pipeline of investment projects. The Committee suggests drawing initial lessons from the Climate City Contracts, amongst other initiatives, in order to link investment plans to private investments and to funding streams and to assess the possibilities of developing fast-track funding applications for cities and regions as part of the initiatives. To this end, the model of the lighthouse smart cities and communities’ projects and the circular cities and regions’ demonstration projects funded under the Horizon programmes could also be a source of inspiration;












37.


invites the European Commission to also reflect upon the possibilities to better integrate the financial support needs of the non-bankable elements of these plans, for instance by de-risking investments (e.g. first loss guarantees, mezzanine loans, …) in cooperation with the European Investment Bank as well as providing grants for the most urgent needs of the unprofitable parts of the plan.












38.


calls on the European Commission to better link the above-mentioned financing needs to cohesion policy funds. The upcoming mid-term evaluation of the MFF provides the right momentum. The Committee asks for consideration to be given to other financial instruments in order to leverage private and public capital for local and regional authorities, and, in particular, to link the financial support to tangible targets and outcomes, rather than the result of time-consuming procedures for calls for proposals. EGTCs, as implementation bodies for co-financed projects, can provide a multilateral and stable working structure, guarantee continuity of actions and improve the efficiency when using public funds;












39.


calls on the European Commission to propose direct funds to cities via the EU Mission for 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 to implement Green Deal projects on the ground. Cities produce 75 % of Europe’s greenhouse emissions but are also society’s hubs for innovation and collaboration that is why tailor-made and directly accessible funds, set up in synergy with the already existing funds are of crucial importance;





Towards a new governance of EU Green Deal initiatives









40.


calls for the establishment of a single platform supported by a well-equipped back-office acting as an entry-point for local and regional authorities willing to be frontrunners in the implementation of the Green Deal: the different initiatives should be interconnected among themselves and LRAs should be easily guided in choosing their priority actions and moving from the entry point into the different complementary initiatives. With the support of the European Commission, the CoR initiative Green Deal Going Local would be ready to contribute to its implementation;












41.


suggests setting up a single political steering group to safeguard the long-term viability of the multilevel integration vertically (EU-national-regional-local) and horizontally at EU level;












42.


highlights that the CoR, institutional body representing local and regional authorities in the EU, stands ready to reinforce its Green Deal Going Local working group and the Chamber of National Ambassadors of the Covenant of Mayors to foster regular exchanges with Commissioners, the presidencies of the Council and the European Parliament on the roll-out of the Green Deal on the ground and its future development. This Steering Group should become operational before the end of 2024;












43.


underlines how the initiatives contribute to strengthening international local and regional cooperation, as demonstrated by the Global Covenant of Mayors and the International Urban and Regional Cooperation Programme. In this regards, calls on the European Commission to continue supporting the increased recognition of the role of sub-national authorities at UN level by leveraging on these cooperation especially in global processes such as the UNFCCC and CBD COPs;






Brussels, 6 July 2023.


The President of the European Committee of the Regions

Vasco ALVES CORDEIRO
            





(1)  What is the Triple Planetary Crisis? (UNFCCC).

(2)  Referring to the Flemish Local Energy and Climate Pact in this regard as a regional example where 294 local authorities build further on the framework of the Covenant of Mayors. However, as an additional layer, the Pact translates the greenhouse gas reduction target into amounts of collective renovations per 1 000 households, participatory renewable energy projects per 500 inhabitants, shared electric vehicles per 500 inhabitants, an additional meter bicycle lane for each inhabitant, and a (semi-)public charging point for every 100 inhabitants. The adaptation challenge is translated into 1 additional tree for each inhabitant, a 0,5 metre-wide hedge or green facade per inhabitant, 1 m3 rainwater infiltration per inhabitant and 1 m2 hard surface removed per inhabitant. Preventing energy poverty is translated into concentrating collective renovations within the most socially diverse neighbourhoods and increasing energy sharing with households that are prevented from investing in solar panels themselves (because of financial means, because they are renting or because there are insufficient roof capacities). The Flemish government provides a facilitating framework via financial support, streamlined monitoring, a district renovation tool, policy dialogue for legislative improvements and technical assistance for local capacity-building of energy communities.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/249/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)