Climate and energy transition

The European Union is currently planning to reinforce its engagement to fight climate change, for instance, through the reduction of domestic greenhouse gas emissions or the reduction of EU dependence on energy imports. With this purpose, the European Council to be held on 20 and 21 March 2014 will address the 2030 policy framework for climate and energy, prepared by the European Commission.

Ahead of this meeting, we sent a joint open letter with five other networks of local authorities - Climate Alliance, Energy Cities, ICLEI Europe, Fedarene and Eurocities – to the Member States calling to a strong local and regional governments’ involvement on the future of climate and energy policies.

Today, urban areas are responsible for 80% of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Moreover their legislative powers and responsibilities vis-à-vis their citizens allow them to drive societal and technological innovation within their communities. In consequence, cities, towns and regions should be seen as vital partners for the delivery of the EU climate and energy objectives.

More concretely, through this open letter we call the European Council to:  

• ensure continued EU and national support to regions, cities and towns to translate long-term strategy into actions at local level, be it through financial support or support for capacity building and exchange of good practices;
• recognise the Covenant of Mayors as a key instrument of this policy framework, alongside the Smart Cities and Communities initiative.

Read the full text of the open letter.
Read our article Covenant of Mayors: "a model for local action to be promoted on the international scale