Effective adaptation to the effects of climate change by EU’s local and regional authorities can reduce the overall costs from damages and save European natural and human resources. Thus support of the European Commission is necessary to encourage stronger collaboration between the different levels of government in that area – argues CoR draft opinion "Towards a new EU climate change adaptation strategy – taking an integrated approach" adopted today by the European Committee of the Regions' ENVE Commission for the Environment, Climate Change and Energy.
Rapporteur, Sirpa HERTELL (EPP/FI) believes that such cooperation would help to align priorities, minimise contradictory or parallel disconnected processes and maximise synergies between the strategies or plans developed at the EU, and national levels as well as those developed at the regional and local levels.
Following the adoption of the EU Energy and Climate 2030 targets in 2014 and the COP21 agreement in Paris in 2015, the European Commission is working on the review of the current EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change, which will lead to a new EU strategy in 2018.
European Commission in preparation of the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change should facilitate support to knowledge transfer through city-to-city cooperation, such as twinning programmes proposed by the Covenant of Mayors initiative. They have proven to be successful and valuable. Local and regional levels need to be also equipped with the appropriate monitoring, reporting and evaluation tools – argues the rapporteur.
Adaptation capacity differs between regions and cities due to variations in access to knowledge, finances, human resources, and the legislative frameworks in the Member States. Hertell believes that the European Commission should provide European local and regional authorities with easily-accessible and understandable information on funds and financial instruments available as well as further guidance and support on how to access and apply the existing instruments.
The European Commission should continue exploring innovative ways to channel investments for adaptation actions to local and regional authorities – argues Sirpa Hertell – we are on the front line both in experiencing the effects of climate change but also in responding to climate change occurring.
The opinion will be subject to adoption by the CoR at its plenary session in February 2017.