Binding targets of 32% renewables in the EU’s energy mix and 32.5% energy efficiency savings by 2030, with a review clause potentially to raise these goals, as the EU plans, is a big step forward but much more is needed, says the Committee of the Regions (CoR), to deliver on the Paris Agreement. Such was the CoR reaction on Friday 22 June to the inter-institutional agreements reached on the clean energy legislative package.
At a public event ahead of COP 24 in Katowice in December, Andrew Cooper, rapporteur on the opinion being prepared by the CoR on climate governance after 2020, welcomed the inclusion of multi-stakeholder dialogues, while stressing that evidence was needed that local and regional authorities will be involved in the development of national integrated energy and climate plans.
He pointed out that the role of local and regional authorities had grown significantly through the increase in their initiatives to deliver on the Paris Agreement: 70% of climate action is at local level and, in adaptation to climate change, the figure rises to 90%.
It has to be explored how nationally determined contributions (NDCs) could be supplemented by contributions determined at local and regional level in contributing to the UN process, he said. He argued that this would be the way to fill the gap between the contributions on the table and the efforts needed to achieve the temperature targets of the Paris Agreement.
The idea was well received by Tomasz Chruszczow, High-Level Climate Champion and Special Envoy for Climate Change of the Polish Government responsible for overseeing the COP24 negotiations, as “NDCs are meant to build upon all committed communities” and, he said, locally determined contributions could be an excellent way of integrating local authority action with what is being done at national and international levels.
Local and regional authorities have no decision-making powers in the processes of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change but are a key player in mobilising the public and helping implementation. “Their policies, their programmes and their legislation reflect local needs and can help achieve objective 13 of the sustainable development goals (climate action). The Talanoa Dialogue is a way of engaging all possible players who are looking to contribute. It has to be a real dialogue to see where we are, where we want to be and how we get there”, he stated.
The Paris Agreement is not, he pointed out, only temperature targets: it provides for appropriate resources and the key element is where we want to get to – a net zero emissions economy.
Yvon Slingenberg Director for International and Mainstreaming and Policy Coordination, DG Climate Action at the European Commission, said that the Talanoa Dialogue meeting, organised by the EU on 13 June, had been very fruitful because “responsibility for action does not lie exclusively with governments”, but with everyone – investors, unions, the universities, et al. – to contribute to raising the level of ambition in 2020. The proposal on a long-term strategy (until 2050) expected to be brought forward by the Commission is in preparation. “The Commission will present a paper on all implications, with ecomodeling for different sectors and for different technologies”, she said. The opening of a public consultation is “imminent”, she indicated. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)