Skip to main content
search

Impact community Climate130

GRIFFON Axelle
In Environment, Impact community Climate, Latest

Green Deal Handbook

Climate Change - News Section

New toolkit for cities and regions on how to adapt to climate change

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has published the first Green Deal Handbook with a focus on climate adaptation.

The Handbook is an interactive toolkit that provides information on financial aid and technical instruments to deploy climate adaptation measures based on different geographical areas and regional specificities.

The objective is to equip local and regional authorities with a set of tools and recommendations to better adapt to climate change, minimise vulnerabilities and build resilience to reduce disaster risks as well as loss and damages. A Handbook is available for every EU Member State.

​Designed in a creative and interactive way, the new Handbook on climate adaptation gives local and regional authorities guidance in implementing the Green Deal on a local and regional level. It provides assistance in finding the right measures to deal with the hazards of climate change.

It offers guidance regarding case studies, financial aid and technical assistance in the fields of climate adaptation. While this first edition focuses on adapting to global warming, upcoming handbooks will be focusing on the renovation wave and biodiversity.

The climate adaptation Handbook is a component of the Committee of the Regions’ Green Deal Going Local campaign, that aims at supporting the implementation of the Green Deal at the local and regional levels. As there is no ‘one-size-fits all recipe’ for a local and regional implementation of the Green Deal, this Handbook provides step-by-step guidance and is adapted to each local context (from urban to rural, mountain and coastal areas, among others).

Click here to access the Handbook’s webpage.

This article was first published by the European Committee of the Regions. 

GRIFFON Axelle
In Impact community Climate, Local Insights, Sustainable mobility

Mobility Week

Mobility Week - News 2022

​How cities are turning their streets over to cyclists

Did you know? Each year, buses, trams and metros carry 50 billion passengers in cities, saving 100 million car trips every day.

But bicycles are also a convenient and environmentally friendly way to travel. Copenhagen, for example, is known for being a city of cyclists. Its residents ride because it’s safe, fast and easy to get around by bike. They also do it because Copenhagen is designed and built for cycling. By 2025, 50 per cent of all trips to work and education in the city are expected to be made by bike. 

So what is the recipe for turning cities around bicycles? Some say it all starts with the creation of segregated bike lanes and ‘slow streets’. Others claim making public transport compatible with cyclists is key. 

All around the world, cities are taking steps to drive sustainable mobility, including by widening pavements, closing streets to cars and setting up traffic light signalling that prioritises people travelling by foot or bike. 

But as the European Commission states, the worst enemies of the bicycle in urban areas are not cars, but longheld prejudices connected with the use of the bicycle as a regular mode of transport. For example, few car owners are really aware of what their car costs them and of the considerable savings to be made by cycling. Awareness-raising campaigns are therefore key to informing the population on the objective qualities and advantages of cycling.

On their own, all those local initiatives led by cities can make a difference, but together they can transform our urban future and make mobility less environmentally and socially harmful, more efficient and cleaner.

To find out more about how cities are tackling the challenge of mobility, visit the European Mobility Week website. Also, take a look at the infographic produced by the CEMR on this occasion.

GRIFFON Axelle
In Environment, Impact community Climate, Local Insights

Parks and green spaces 

Green Spaces - News 2022

Podgorica: one of Europe’s greenest cities

Green spaces are a great way to have cleaner, healthier cities and encourage people to get out and about. That’s why Podgorica has been renovating old parks, building new ones and creating children’s playgrounds.
 
So far, 16 new parks and 51 children’s playgrounds have been created by the city administration. That’s 230,000 square meters of public green space created and 10,000 tree seedlings planted.
 
The city is proud that in February 2022, the European Environment Agency ranked Podgorica among the five greenest cities in Europe in the category of “urban green areas.”
 
Podgorica’s parks are varied. One features pine trees as a backdrop, with fields for football and other sports, as well as the 2.5-kilometer-long fitness track, the longest in Montenegro. Another, the forest park of Tolosi, hosts a recreational trail for all ages.
 
The development of parks and increased funds for green areas continue to be high on the city’s list of priorities.

GRIFFON Axelle
In Environment, Impact community Climate, Local Insights

Noise pollution 

Noise pollution - News 2022

​French cities deploy ‘Medusa’ sound sensors to tackle noise pollution

Nantes, Nice, Toulouse, Paris: many French cities and towns are setting to trial noise cameras called ‘Medusa’.

Their role? To crack down on vehicles breaking noise limits. The Medusa sound sensors are equipped with a camera and several microphones detecting vehicles such as cars, motorbikes and lorries making noises over a certain decibel level.

The sound radars are expected to be officially approved by the French Ministry of the Interior by the end of 2022 and are currently in the test phase.

The significant noise pollution’s health effects on Europeans

According to the European Environment Agency, at least one in five Europeans are currently exposed to harmful levels of noise pollution. And more than half of Europeans living in urban areas are exposed to road noise levels of 55 decibels or more.

Just as alarming, the EEA estimates that long-term exposure to environmental noise causes 12.000 premature deaths every year.

Further measures to reduce noise pollution in cities

Against this backdrop, mayors and local leaders have been deploying a wide range of other measures to reduce noise pollution in cities. These include replacing old cobbled roads with smoother asphalt, better managing traffic flows, introducing 30 km/h speed limits, or encouraging as much walking, cycling and public transport use as possible.

While reducing noise pollution to “zero” is a lost cause, many towns and cities across Europe have made noise pollution a top priority. As the EEA puts it, many EU Member States will need to do more in the future to reduce noise pollution, including by implementing the EU Environmental Noise Directive.

GRIFFON Axelle
In Energy, Impact community Climate, Local Insights

Good Local Practices

Renewable Energy - News Section

Welcome to the Saerbeck climate cooperative: when locals invest in a renewable and independent energy future

With its 7000 inhabitants, Saerbeck is a small German town with a big environmental ambition: to become an energy self-sufficient “climate community” by 2030. This will be achieved by maximising energy generation from renewable sources such as sun, wind, water and biomass as is consumed in private households and commercial enterprises.

Saerbeck has, since 2009, aimed to become the state of North-Rhine-Westphalia’s model climate municipality of the future. The municipal “climate concept” has since become part of the vocabulary of Saerbeck’s citizens and indeed all inhabitants are encouraged to participate in this effort to locally and sustainably produce all of households’ and enterprises’ energy needs.

In 2010, the municipality acquired an ammunition depot abandoned by the German armed forces. It is being transformed into an energy park with a mix of powerful photovoltaic systems, wind turbines, biogas plants and other innovative projects.

Currently, the Bioenergy Park produces about 2.5 times more renewable electricity than Saerbeck consumes. The CO2 footprint has thus been halved, although work still needs to be done to decarbonise transport and heating.

Threefold benefits: financial, environmental and educational

In the spirit of “thinking globally, acting locally”, Saerbeck’s citizens can directly participate and invest in these local energy projects through a citizens’ cooperative. As of 2020, the cooperative has turned a profit and has even distributed a dividend to its citizen-investors.

So far, almost 400 local shareholders have invested in the cooperative. Ultimately this means twice the benefit for locals: besides the local economic gains, the town is making a great contribution to global climate protection and local energy independence.
​
All projects are accompanied by numerous educational projects: energy transition starts in the minds.  An experimental school at the Bioenergy Park shows students from all over the world how renewable energies work in reality and what they are good for.

TONHAUSER Boris
In Impact community Climate, Impact community Climate, Impact community Society, Impact community Society, Latest, PLATFORMA, PLATFORMA, Publications

Annual report on SDGs goes digital

PLATFORMA - banner 3

Our annual report on the SDGs goes digital at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)

Read full study

Available for the first time in an online format, PLATFORMA and CEMR have just published their fifth annual study on the localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Released on the occasion of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in New York, discover this innovative publication today on local-sdgs.eu

This study gathers the most recent information on how and to what extent associations and networks of local and regional governments have been involved in the localisation of the SDGs, both in Europe and with their global peers, and in particular during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s survey therefore, included questions on the SDGs’ implementation since 2015 and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. In the last two sections, there were also additional questions regarding Voluntary Subnational Reviews (VSR) and decentralised cooperation.

It gathers 63 answers from 28 European countries, 37 associations of local and regional governments and 18 municipalities and regions.

Main recommendations

Six main recommendations came out of this study, targeting EU institutions, national governments and local and regional governments and their national associations:

  1. The European Commission should report regularly on any progress made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the EU level and indicate how the different levels of governance have contributed to this process.
  2. We encourage associations of local and regional governments to actively take part in the Voluntary Subnational Reviews (VSR) process.
  3. Local and regional governments (LRGs) are calling for the firm recognition and inclusion by national governments of the role of LRGs and their associations in the monitoring and reporting of progress in the implementation of SDGs at the national level.
  4. European states and the EU need to strengthen their dialogue with the subnational levels and include them in any relevant high-level delegation meetings.
  5. Strengthen international cooperation to achieve the 2030 Agenda at the local and regional levels
  6. There is still a need to localise and territorialise the SDGs, through the deployment of appropriate funds and resources

This study will be presented by a PLATFORMA-CEMR delegation at different events during the second week of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) taking place in New York between 5 and 15 July 2022.

This delegation is composed of:

  • Fabrizio Rossi, CEMR Secretary General
  • José Hila, Mayor of Palma de Mallorca (Spain, FEMP)
  • Hannah-Lea Braun, Member of Maichingen Council (Sindelfingen, Germany) and the CEMR Young Elected Officials Committee
  • Luis Salaya, Mayor of Cáceres (Spain, FEMP)
  • Valérie Dumontet, Vice-President of Aude Region, (France, Cités Unies France)
  • Pilar Díaz, Mayor of Espluges de Llobregat, Deputy to the Presidency, Delegate for International Relations at the Diputació de Barcelona (Spain, Barcelona Provincial Council – DIBA)
  • Jan van Zanen, Mayor of The Hague (Netherlands, VNG International)

Directors, advisers and technicians from CEMR, the City of Paris, DIBA, FEMP, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS), UCLG and VNG International are also attending HLPF this year.

More

For more information, contact:

BORDELOT Federica
In About CEMR, Impact community Climate, Impact community Climate, Impact community Cohesion, Impact community Cohesion, Impact community Labour, Impact community Labour, Impact community Society, Impact community Society, Latest, Publications

CEMR report of 2021 

Meet Local Leaders - News

Report on the publications, knowledge-sharing, advocacy and communications in 2021 

Read full study

The Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is pleased to present its 2021 Activity Report, which provides an overview of the organisation’s main actions and achievements over the year. Guided by the 2021–2030 multiannual strategy and the 2021–2022 work programme, CEMR focused its work on four objectives: 

  1. Policies and advocacy 
  1. Knowledge sharing and capacity-building 
  1. Pan-European campaigns and visibility 
  1. Internal organisation and sustainability 

All actions were aligned with the aim of advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Europe’s territories. 

Shaping European and Global Agendas 

Throughout 2021, CEMR actively influenced European initiatives and alerted members to upcoming developments affecting local and regional governments. Activities included: 

  • Monitoring EU initiatives on recovery, resilience, and international cooperation. 
  • Engaging in structured dialogues on cohesion policy, rural development, disability rights, and urban development. 
  • Providing input that shaped OECD analyses, Council Conclusions, and the European long-term vision for rural areas. 
  • Publishing position papers and resolutions on gender equality, migration, the Fit for 55 energy package, water, and digitalisation. 

At the international level, CEMR deepened cooperation with UCLG, the Global Taskforce, OECD, and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. 

Building Knowledge and Capacity 

To strengthen understanding of EU policies and empower members to act, CEMR: 

  • Produced publications and webinars, including a new edition of the TERRI Report on decentralisation reforms. 
  • Organised workshops on member participation in national and European processes. 
  • Delivered capacity-building through externally funded projects in areas such as EU funding, climate adaptation, gender equality, migration, and SDG implementation. 

Raising Visibility and Engaging Citizens 

2021 was also a year of celebrations: 

  • 70th anniversary of CEMR and the 15th anniversary of the Equality Charter brought together 500 participants online. 
  • Pan-European campaigns were launched for Europe Day, SDG Day, and equality, highlighting the voices of local leaders and women in politics. 
  • CEMR ensured visibility for its spokespersons through social media, interviews, videos, and participation in international events. 

In numbers: 

  • Over 120 articles published in English and French. 
  • More than 650 tweets reaching 1 million views. 
  • 14 newsletters delivered to the network. 

Strengthening Internal Organisation 

CEMR took concrete steps to become a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient organisation: 

  • Two online Policy Committee meetings gathered 170 elected representatives to adopt policy positions and validate the strategy. 
  • A new Secretary General selection process was launched. 
  • Internal processes were modernised with digital templates, e-signatures, and reduced paper use. 
  • Staff received training on project management, budget monitoring, public speaking, and team collaboration. 

Milestones and Campaign Highlights 

  • Advocated for local governments to be included in post-COVID recovery plans (#CohesionAlliance). 
  • Shared local leaders’ visions for the Conference on the Future of Europe. 
  • Continued the #Power2Her and #LocalEquality campaigns on gender equality. 
  • Helped secure recognition of the multilevel cooperative model in the Glasgow COP26 agreement. 

2021 was a year of adaptation, resilience, and influence for CEMR. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the network succeeded in shaping European debates, amplifying the voice of local and regional governments, and strengthening internal capacities. With a stronger foundation and renewed strategy, CEMR continues its mission to empower Europe’s municipalities and regions to lead sustainable change. 

Read the study here

For more information, contact:

GRIFFON Axelle
In Impact community Climate, Local Insights, Waste

The Denim Deal

Denim Deal - News 2022

How Amsterdam is reducing emissions by boosting the recycling of textiles

As the birthplace of denim labels and a European hub for global brands, the city of Amsterdam is renowned as an international denim capital. This sense of style is now going hand in hand with a growing environmental consciousness. As part of this, Amsterdam has launched the Denim Deal, an initiative to increase the share of recycled textiles in the city’s denim products.

The goal is that by the end of 2023, three million denim jeans containing 20% post-consumer recycled textiles will have been produced. In 2030, this will lead to reduction of carbon emissions by 2,400 kilotonnes, equivalent to a small coal plant.

The Denim Deal will work towards becoming the new industry standard in the denim industry and it is hoped its approach can be scaled up and replicated in other European municipalities. Indeed, the struggle for a waste-free circular economy cannot be achieved in isolation: work needs to be done with different actors along the whole supply chain.

A milestone contributing to the deal was the development of the automated sorting machine, Fibersort, which divides large volumes of mixed post-consumer textiles by fibre composition and colour. Such fine-grained sorting allows these materials to become uniform inputs for high-value textile-to-textile recyclers.

Multi-level cooperation brings results

The project, launched in 2020 by the City of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Economic Board, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Municipalities of Haarlem and the Zaanstad, is a case study in cooperation across different levels of government.

The Denim Deal brings together over 40 partners including denim brands, policymakers, recycling companies and others. The initiative enables precise monitoring of the value chain of denim products and processes in the industry.

The project has been undertaken in the context of REFLOW, an EU-funded innovation project supporting the development of circular cities through the re-localisation of production and the reconfiguration of material flows.

Amsterdam is since 2009 a signatory of the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy – Europe.

BIZARRO Pedro
In Climate, Energy, EU Covenant of Mayors, Impact community Climate, Impact community Society, Latest, Projects and Programmes, Twinning

Peer learning programme on climate and energy

Covenant of Mayors - News

Apply for the Covenant of Mayors peer learning programme: The deadline extended to 15 April!

Cities and towns have until 15 April 2022 to apply for the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy’s peer learning programme. The programme offers Covenant of Mayors signatories across Europe the opportunity to increase their capacity and knowledge on climate and energy challenges through peer discussions tailored to their needs.
 
In 2021, the Covenant Office supported 45 cities, 6 coordinators, and 4 energy agencies. This year, the Covenant of Mayors offers four programmes to respond to local needs: twinning, expert missions, peer review and technical assistance.
 
Find out more
Peer Learning Programme 2022/2023
Recording of the info session
Selection criteria

GAUDRON Marine
In Climate, Climate, EU budget, EU budget, Impact community Climate, Impact community Climate, Impact community Cohesion, Impact community Cohesion, Latest, Local democracy, Local democracy, Publications, Territorial development

Investing in Europe’s future 

Investing in Europe - News

A new EU growth model must empower local services, boost resilience and deliver sustainable investments 

Read declaration

The war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis have placed Europe at a critical crossroads. These overlapping challenges are testing the strength of our democracies, economies and social fabric and call for a bold rethinking of Europe’s economic governance. 

In response, the SGIs Network, bringing together key public service stakeholders, has issued a joint declaration ahead of the Tripartite Social Summit on 23 March 2022. The message is clear: to manage the transition and strengthen the EU’s resilience, Europe must urgently shift towards a more forward-looking, inclusive and investment-oriented growth model. 

A new economic framework 
The current EU fiscal rules are no longer fit for purpose in the face of permacrisis. The declaration calls for a reformed fiscal architecture that reconciles debt sustainability with long-term, growth-enhancing investments. This includes distinguishing productive investments, such as in green infrastructure, digitalisation, healthcare and education, from unproductive spending. 

Empowering local action 
Local and regional governments are essential to achieving a green, digital and fair transition. The declaration stresses the need for their full involvement in implementing the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) and accessing the Next Generation EU funds. Without this multilevel approach, the EU risks missing the full potential of its recovery strategy. 

From temporary response to permanent capacity 
As the NGEU package and current EU budget cycle expire in 2026–2027, the declaration urges leaders to prepare for a longer-term fiscal and investment strategy. A permanent common fiscal capacity will be vital to address future shared challenges, from climate change to geopolitical instability, and avoid deepening inequalities between territories. 

The call from the SGIs Network is not just for more funding, but for better governance and greater solidarity. It is a reminder that investing in public services, social cohesion and local resilience is not a cost. It is the foundation of a stronger, united Europe. 

Read the declaration here 

For more information, contact: 

Close Menu

About CCRE CEMR

1 Square de Meeûs
B – 1000 Bruxelles

T: + 32 2 511 74 77   Fax : + 32 2 511 09 49
E: info@ccre-cemr.org