EU Member States need to critically assess the way they consult and involve cities, regions and other key stakeholders in the preparation and implementation of their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). This is the main message delivered by rapporteur József Ribányi (EPP/HU) at today's Plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR). He led the CoR's work on its opinion on implementing the Clean Energy Package: the NECPs as a tool for local and territorial governance approach to climate, active and passive energy.
The NECPs will help ensure that the Energy Union objectives, particularly the EU’s energy and climate targets for 2030 and 2050, are in line with the Paris Agreement. Member States will have time until the end of 2019 to submit their final NECPs to the European Commission. The opinion calls for locally-determined contributions (LDCs) to complement the nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, which would give additional weight to the role of local and regional authorities in the drafting of comprehensive NECPs.
Cities and regions have a right to be directly involved in measures touching on active and passive energy, climate change and the shift away from fossil fuels and also have an important role to play in managing energy poverty. The challenges and obstacles encountered at local level – closest to consumers – must be understood and overcome in order to give credibility to national and European commitments. The generation and use of local resources must be planned efficiently to enable cities and regions to fulfil their mission properly: "Environmental protection and the fight against climate change cannot be dependent on the financial conditions of local and regional authorities", Ribanyi said.
Rapporteur Ribányi supports the proposed Multilevel Climate and Energy Policy Dialogue insofar as it will boost LRA participation in the NECPs. This dialogue is also crucial for upholding the subsidiarity and proportionality principles. The CoR proposes to work with Member States via a permanent platform for dialogue to follow up on the implementation of NECPs. Coordination is also needed to identify inconsistencies and potential synergies between the NECPs and the Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Semester and the EU’s long-term strategy for 2050.
Finally, the opinion emphasises that the NECPs must promote energy innovation with a view to a shift to a low-carbon economy which supports employment, growth and investment. LRAs should be involved in particular in smart city initiatives, along with green public procurement in fields such as energy savings in urban transport, interregional transport strategies, cooperation on new storage technologies and smart public buildings.
Ribányi also presented his opinion at a seminar on 'Regions and cities co-creating national energy and climate plans' during the European Week of Regions and Cities on 9 October.
