Aarhus, 30/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - The regions of Europe can count on the fact that adaptation to climate change will promote job creation. This was the clear message delivered by Connie Hedegaard, European Climate Action Commissioner, on Friday 30 September, to the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR), at their general assembly in Aarhus (Denmark).
The Danish commissioner said that, when one works with renewable energies, this promotes job creation in the most outlying regions. There is considerable proof of this, she said, pointing out that it is not just a theory but that it is something that can really be achieved.
Eleni Marianou, CPMR General Secretary, took the same line, saying that, for the CPMR, it is not simply a matter of ecology or environment. It is a different kind of economic development but one that is also new, geared to green jobs in the environment and blue jobs in the maritime sector. The region of Cornwall in the United Kingdom has developed a strategy along these lines and the councillor for that region, Carolyne Rule, believes the time has come for the peripheral maritime regions and their rich resources to be placed at the centre, and not on the edge, of European policy for combating climate change.
Commissioner Hedegaard therefore pointed out that review of cohesion policy, which is to be presented on 6 October, provides for the most competitive or transitional regions (where GDP per capita is between 75 and 90% of the European average) to invest at least 20% of the cohesion fund in energy efficiency. She went on to conclude that this would be a great incentive for the regions, and that they believe it is a sector where jobs can be created for the regions, without relocation. (MD/transl.jl)