Climate change is a growing political issue from the local to the global level. EU policy and commitments are speeding up. The finalised EU political agreement on the Climate & Energy package by the end of 2008 shows that this is a major concern for Europe in order to keep a leading role in international action to combat climate change.

Many working groups, networks and projects are already contributing to develop strategies and actions on the ground. In this framework, the EU regions may strengthen their positions between EU policies on climate change and results expected on the ground, at the regional level.Regions play a central role in fighting climate change:

• EU regions, cities are responsible for a significant part of GHG emissions (15%) and have indirect influence for 50% of GHG emissions. However, there are no ‘standardised’ and comparable data & monitoring on GHG emissions available at the regional level. Regions therefore need to come together to share tools of observation and action plans.
• actions at regional level are relevant and effective because they:will take into account the local context (=knowledge).
• can facilitate a concerted strategy close to citizens and main key players on the ground (governance).
• can benefit from the most appropriate actions in a flexible way (common & flexible methodology and tools).
• can enrich the EU political decision process (EU governance).

Better multilevel governance on climate change issues could help achieve better tangible results. This project aims at developing the cross cutting role of EU regions: from the local to the EU level, from the technical to the political aspect. According to the international and the EU schedule on climate change issues, this project will bring useful contributions at the right time.

 

Climate change is a major challenge, calling for mitigation and adaptation actions. Preventing climate change impacts requires immediate and efficient measures to stabilise/ reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and meet the EU objective to keep the temperature increase below 2°C.

In this context, the overall objective of the project is to contribute to fight greenhouse effect with a focus on regions and their capacity to build greenhouse gas reduction policies. The three areas of the project are:

• monitoring and observing greenhouse gases,
• developing regional policies and action plans for greenhouse gas mitigation,
• regional governance: from knowledge to action.

ClimactRegions is a region-targeted, region in the political sense, project: while political impetus and international commitments on climate change have been taken at the EU and the national level, implementation and results on the ground mostly rely on the regional level.

Results in combating and adapting to climate change depend on the commitments of the largest number of players who can carry out as many and appropriate actions as possible. That’s why ClimactRegions aims also develop and stimulate a process of multilevel governance in climate change policies and actions at regional level, in close liaison with the EU.

June 2010: leaflet presenting the ClimactRegions project

September 2010: start of the European survey on good practices

March 2011: 140 good practices in Europe available on the webportal

June 2011: 3 manuals available on the webportal

December 2011: first draft local implementation plan

March 2012: intermediate version of actions plans

October 2012: final versions of actions plans

December 2012: report of the first European network of GHG observatories

The three areas of the project are:

• monitoring and observing greenhouse gases,

• developing regional policies and action plans for greenhouse gas mitigation,

• regional governance, from knowledge to action

For these three areas there are already a number of good practices available all over Europe and also within the project partner regions. The first task is to identify them in a survey and then choose the best to be worked on, presenting the different aspects and conditions for success. This work and these exchange between the project partners and with other regional authorities will create the basis for new and convincing tools for them.

ClimactRegions project will allow the successful transfer of best practices, to improve regional climate change policies, to increase the capacity of the staff members of the partner regions and to create a network of regional greenhouse gas observatories as a standing working group within an existing network of regions and energy agencies (FEDARENE).

Besides the fight for climate protection, adaptation to climate change can also be a crucial subject for the regional authorities. In this project priority is given to GHG mitigation, but through the presence of the Spanish partner, an exchange will be organised with the already accepted REGIOCLIMA project dedicated to adaptation strategies.

The project will elaborate assessment methodologies and produce manuals published as master versions on the webportal on the three areas:

• setting up a greenhouse gas observatory,
• developing climate protection policies
• implementing good governance.

The knowledge and experiences acquired and transposed in a general way into the manuals will then be adapted to the specific conditions of each partner region.
 
In order to be successful for associating and involving the different stakeholders and also the citizens it is necessary to conceive a specific plan for the role of good governance. According to their specific needs, each partner region will additionally select one of the two other manuals and prepare the implementation. A global strategy will be ready by the end of the project to set up a regional observatory of GHG or the implementation of policies for climate protection, ready to be submitted to the political discussion. Good governance will be the theme of the introduction of these tools.
 

The impact of the project will go beyond the partnership. More regions will be able to benefit from the work done in the project, through the material available on the webportal and other dissemination activities.

 

We determined 6 target groups:
Local stakeholders involved in the elaboration of GHG policies

• Local officials
• Local technical authorities

European Union organizations involved in climate changes:

• DG Climate
• Committee of the Regions

Other interested regions and provinces across EU: Ile de France, Abruzzo, Milano Province, Picardie,..
Other European networks involved in climate changes: EAR, CEMR, CPMR, Climate action network,.
National Technical Reference Center Representatives CITEPA, UBA, JRC
Other ongoing European project in relations with climate changes: REGIOCLIMA
The main key actors in the project process will be energy agencies and regions.