Without using local and regional contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and without the formal involvement of local and regional governments in climate governance, it will be impossible to put the Paris Agreement into practice, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) says.
That was the view expressed by the CoR ahead of COP24 in Katowice, Poland (3-14 December), in a debate on Thursday 5 July on “Climate governance after 2020: a European and global perspective” and an opinion adopted thereafter on the basis of a report drafted by Andrew Cooper (EA, UK) as a contribution to COP24 (see EUROPE 12047).
According to the CoR, the challenge is twofold. Firstly, the gap between nationally determined contributions (NDCs) currently on the UN table and the efforts that will be required to satisfy the requirements of the Paris climate agreement – keeping average global warming well below 2 degree Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to restrict the increase to 1.5°C – has to be bridged.
Secondly, there has to be resolution of the paradox whereby local and regional authorities are excluded from the negotiating table and the decision-making process at the UN when it is they who implement 70-90% of the measures to turn the EU’s legislative climate targets into reality.
“The EU continues to show leadership on climate change but unless we set more ambitious targets, commit more local investment and have a fundamental change in climate governance, we will not deliver our promises made in Paris”, warned CoR President Karl-Heinz Lambertz.
The CoR wants cities and regions to be officially involved both in climate governance plans and at the UN, as part of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“It is now time to acknowledge multi-level governance and formalise the role of local and regional in global climate governance. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are falling short in reaching the Paris agreement goals. We propose a system of Locally and Regionally Determined Contributions to complement national pledges”, said Cooper.
What he wants is a system to inventory emissions and monitor progress within the NDCs or a UN system.
At EU level, the provision within the EU’s inter-institutional agreement on climate governance for multi-level dialogue was welcomed by the CoR. At United Nations level, the Committee says it would be happy to engage in talks with the UNFCCC
During the CoR debate, European Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete gave assurances that, through the climate and energy dialogues that “member states have to organise to design national energy and action plans”, cities and regions will have a real opportunity to become involved in the plans, drafts of which have to be submitted by the member states by 31 December before their final versions, expected by 31 December 2019.
This, the commissioner said, “is an opportunity for regional and local authorities to influence the development of the Energy Union”.
He pledged that, in Katowice, he would inform the CoR delegation daily of progress in the negotiations. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)