30.12.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 498/25
7. recognises that, by engaging with relevant local and regional stakeholders, including businesses, universities and research centres, civil society organisations and citizens, cities and regions contribute to increasing awareness and public acceptance of climate actions at local, regional, national and global level, as well as enable and promote a good life for all within planetary boundaries;
8. recalls that climate agenda was one of the main topics raised by the citizens’ panels and Plenary of the Conference of the Future of Europe, resulting in 49 proposals complemented by detailed measures.
EU citizens call for an accelerated green transition, the need to focus on education, better communication and addressing social justice (1);
9. reminds that climate change has a distinct gendered dimension, as globally women are more affected by the consequences of climate change; therefore, women leaders’ participation in climate negotiations is paramount for effective climate action, and subnational climate diplomacy can help bridge this gap, as proportionately more women are active in local politics;
10. emphasises that cities host numbers of young people who are at the forefront of climate action, forming new movements and initiatives, such as the Youth Climate Strike, creating a new type of pressure on local, regional and central governments.
Through collaboration with the youth organisations, cities provide young people with right tools, platforms, and shelters to express their own opinions via street gatherings or participation in the local council meetings.
Ultimately cities and regions actively create leaders of tomorrow, ready to address local problems and represent their own community;
11. points out, that the involvement of LRAs is particularly important in identifying the opportunities and risks that planned climate activities present for employment, income and economic activity of different genders, age groups, occupational groups and business areas;
12. believes that, given the proximity with citizens, cities and regions are instruments for achieving community empowerment, self-determination, and good governance: subnational diplomacy creates a direct connection between citizens and global affairs, overcoming the democratic deficits of traditional multilateral policy-making where citizens lack participation in the decisions taken;
13. believes that subnational climate diplomacy can contribute to overcoming specific challenges faced in state-to-state diplomacy, such as frequent deadlock situations and North/South divides;
14. draws attention to international alliances of regions and municipalities for climate action, such as the Under2 Coalition, which make an important contribution to international climate policy at subnational level and should therefore be more closely involved in the UN negotiations; calls on the Commission to include these alliances in its climate diplomacy;
15.
points out several levels at which subnational actors move the international and EU climate agenda forward:
(a) adopting progressive climate policies within their jurisdictions while engaging local stakeholders and representatives of various groups in order to boost implementation;
(b) engaging other subnational actors in horizontal diplomacy to commit to ambitious climate goals, thus creating broader and stronger communities of climate ambitious territories;
(c) through vertical diplomacy, influencing national environmental and climate policy, and providing a strong voice in the climate debate and state negotiations; limiting the potential damage in the case of adverse national policies;
(1)
Proposal 3 / Measure 11 calls for increasing the EU’s leadership and taking stronger role and responsibility to promote ambitious climate action, a just transition and support to address loss and damages in the international framework.