COP23: Overview of European tools available for cooperation in the field of climate action

As the negotiations on the implementation of the Paris Agreement are going on in Bonn (6 to 17 November) and local governments and their networks defend their contribution and their role in the fight against climate disruption, PLATFORMA and the AFCCRE present an overview of European tools that can support cooperation in the field of climate action of European local governments with their counterparts both in Europe and beyond.

Entitled «Cooperation in the field of climate of European local and regional governments: Panorama of European tools and concrete examples«(soon available in English), this publication reviews the contribution of local authorities and their networks to international climate negotiations, and highlights the contribution of cooperation between local and regional authorities to the implementation of the Paris Agreement. It also presents the main European tools and programs that accompany such cooperation.

Among these programs are Interreg, the main support program for European territorial cooperation, but also the support program for twinning under the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, the cooperation program between European and third countries’ cities (International Urban Cooperation Program), OSC-AL…

Indeed, as Ronan Dantec, President of the AFCCRE’s Environment and Sustainable Development Commission, reminds us, «the levers for action by local and regional authorities in the fight against climate change are numerous because of their skills. The capacity of local and regional governments is also strengthened thanks to the partnerships and cooperation they develop with their counterparts in Europe and around the world. In fact, these partnerships allow – while facing common problems – to exchange, compare practices and innovate, but also to support, among peers, the skills of local authorities in local policies in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to the consequences of climate change. They are therefore an indispensable tool for accelerated implementation of international climate goals and must find their place in the implementation mechanisms of the Paris Agreement».

This «Panorama» is also intended to fuel the reflections and work of the coalition «decentralised cooperation and partnerships between territories for climate» launched prior to COP21 and led by several networks of local governments including the AFCCRE and its European organisation CEMR/PLATFORMA. It has several objectives, among which is the promotion of European and international cooperation of local and regional authorities in the field of climate and a better knowledge of the European tools that accompany them.