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On Monday 23 September 2024, 11:00 – 12:30 CEST, the Green Deal Projects Support Office invites to a webinar which will bring together projects that put into practice innovative solutions that support the governance of the green transition within regional and municipal authorities. During this webinar, projects will share their experiences, including the challenges encountered and practical solutions developed, as they contribute to EU policy discussions ahead of the forthcoming European Week of Regions and Cities on 7-10 October.
The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual event that highlights the capacity of cities and regions to drive growth, create jobs, and implement EU policies including the European Green Deal. With a requirement for at least 70% of the European Green Deal legislation to be implemented at the local and regional level, cities and regions play a crucial role in achieving the goals of decarbonisation, circularity, climate resilience, digital transformation and a just transition. They are powerful actors that can leverage local knowledge and resources to foster the co-creation of solutions. However, cities and regions face many challenges in their efforts to govern this green transition and deliver its intended benefits. These include:
- Ensuring coordinated action: Achieving a sustainable transition requires close collaboration among various stakeholders, including public bodies, scientific and research institutes, civil society, communities, and industry – a task which often requires extensive efforts.
- Securing financial resources: Cities and regions need to secure funding for sustainable projects and initiatives, which can be challenging given the many competing demands for resources.
- Embedding technological innovation: It is essential to incorporate the adoption of new technologies and practices, and ensure good links between science and policy-making so that cities and regions can fully deliver their objectives whilst making progress towards the digital transformation of Europe.
- Addressing socio-economic issues: The transition to a green economy has the potential to significantly impact the socio-economic areas of employment and skills building, and so should be closely aligned with the Just transition principle.
- Ensuring a coherent policy framework: The policy and regulatory landscape at the municipal, regional, national, and European level is often very complex, both in administrative and in technical terms. For example, a particular policy measure may be covered by different policy tools, hence, it may not always be perfectly in line with local and community needs or with a project’s need.
Agenda
11:00 – 11:05 Welcoming remarks Yael Meroz, Green Deal Projects Support Office
11:05 – 11:25 Introducing the context.
Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) – Lucie Blondel, Policy Officer (European Commission, DG RTD)
Innovating Cities Policy Initiative – Maria Yeroyanni, Senior Expert (European Commission, DG RTD)
11:25 – 12:10 Experiences and insights of projects
Green Deal Call-funded projects:
- FIRE-RES: Innovative technologies and socio-ecological-economic solutions for fire resilient territories in Europe – Eduard Plana (Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia)
- PHOENIX: The rise of citizen voices for a Greener Europe
- FRONTSH1P: A FRONTrunner approach to Systemic circular, Holistic & Inclusive solutions for a New Paradigm of territorial circular economy – Justyna Trippner-Hrabi (University of Łódź) and Ewa Kochańska (Research and Innovation Centre Pro-Akademia)
Interventions by external projects:
- LIFE-IP CANEMURE-FINLAND/LIFE – Towards Carbon Neutral Municipalities and Regions in Finland – Laura Saikku (Finnish Environment Institute, Syke)
- TREASoURcE/CCRI- Territorial and Regional Demonstrations of Systemic solutions of key value chains and their replication to deploy circular – Anna Tenhunen-Lunkka (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland)
12:10 – 12:30 Questions, discussion, and wrap-up
For more information about the registration (which is open until 20 September) and contacts for questions, please refer to the source page of this announcement: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/GD-SO_Webinar_Registration