To reach the objectives of the Paris Agreement and to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a broad transition to a sustainable, low-emission energy system is needed. The scale of this transition requires integrated solutions and close cooperation across all levels of government and civil society, states rapporteur Witold Stepien (EPP/PL), Member of the Łódzkie Regional Assembly, whose opinion on Implementing the Paris Agreement through innovative and sustainable energy transition at regional and local level was adopted at today's meeting of the European Committee of the Regions' ENVE Commission in Bucharest.
An innovative and sustainable energy transition provides an opportunity to invest in future-proof infrastructure and improve the quality of life all Europeans, the rapporteur believes. He highlights the need to consider the energy system as a whole, from production and supply to distribution and consumption. Innovations stemming from local contexts should be fostered to address the impact on communities as well as the overall energy system.
Local and regional authorities (LRAs) are best placed to engage their communities, attract private investors and implement ambitious action, acting not only as administrators but also as service providers and significant purchasers of energy services. Therefore, Stepien's opinion calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide LRAs with adequate resources and support to speed up the energy transition in coal regions, carbon intensive regions and islands across Europe.
The clean energy transition has already created two million jobs across the EU. To address the lack of financial and human resources hampering the transition to low-carbon technologies, the rapporteur calls for the establishment of regional vocational training centres to provide capacity building and training to repurpose labour skills towards more sustainable industries. He also supports a Transition Allocation of EUR 4.8 billion under the 2021-2027 cohesion policy for affected coal regions, which face the biggest challenges in greening their economies and ensuring a just energy transition for their citizens.
Rapporteur Stepien fully supports the 40% goal for renewable energy and the imperative of energy efficiency and highlights the close link between circular economy and sustainable energy transition. The opinion also addresses ways to harness the potential of decentralised production by prosumers and to step up access to digitalised transmission and distribution systems.
Stepien's opinion will be up for adoption at the October Plenary session of the CoR.