The ENVE Commission adopted today the opinion on ‘EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change’ of Markku Markkula, President of the Helsinki Region and Chair of the Espoo City Board.
According to data, the economic losses caused by extreme weather conditions amounted to over EUR 436 billion from 1980 to 2016, and they will increase to at least EUR 170 billion per year if global warming reaches 3°C above a pre-industrial level. Therefore the rapporteur welcomes the European Commission's call in the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change for cities and regions, along with the CoR, to pave the way to a higher level of ambition on climate resilience and to commit to better integrating EU measures into national, regional and local legislation and activities.
The opinion was built on previous work by the rapporteur and addresses inter alia the Climate and Health Observatory, cross border cooperation, the European Research Area Hubs and climate pricing.
"Regional and local roadmaps and Green Deal Going Local action plans are the answer – provided by the political leadership. The plans need to be based on using EU instruments and financing. Mobilising joint private and public investments is the key. The local level leadership shows how we reach the climate neutrality targets by being smarter, swifter and more systemic." Said Markkula at the adoption of the opinion.
He highlighted the fact that the role of cities and regions has changed from an administration-focused authority-centric style to a service- and collaboration-driven one, which includes citizens, academia, businesses, and the third sector. The rapporteur urged cities and regions to analyse and renew their role, collaboration, and innovation policies to boost broad-scale societal and technology-assisted innovations. This will enable them to tackle the major societal challenges and safeguard the right conditions for welfare societies.
The rapporteur called for solid market-based incentives to attract the development of new carbon sinks and more investment in innovative digital technologies, 5G technology, the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and data analytics that improve the digital and green transformation.
He also stressed that via the CoR Green Deal Going Local political and communication campaign, cities and regions can accelerate the sustainable transition using local, regional, national and EU public and private financing, along with other supporting initiatives.