17^th Plenary Session of the Congress

Strasbourg, 14 October 2009

Speech by Gaye DOGANOGLU, Chair of the Committee on Sustainable Development, on climate change

·          It is quite apt that the Congress should be debating this report today when we are celebrating our 60^th anniversary and are looking at the challenges ahead. Few of the challenges facing our continent and the world are more urgent than that of the problem of climate change.

·          Global warming is a dramatic reality and the seriousness of its effects is obvious to everyone, to citizens and to politicians alike. If left unaddressed, it will weaken our economy and threaten our society, our individual security and the natural resources of our planet.

·          We have a major responsibility to prepare our cities and regions for the future. Indeed, local and regional authorities, your local and regional authorities dear colleagues, are central actors for improving the quality and the sustainability of our life-styles. Changing the way we run our daily lives and our consumption patterns, changing the way we plan and manage our affairs are the key issues for tackling this global challenge. We must address this challenge in every way that we can, in all our fields of responsibility and in each of our roles.

·          Local and regional authorities are very much aware of the challenges that lie ahead, and they have already taken many steps to prepare for a low carbon future and to adapt their territories to the new climatic conditions. They have been showing remarkable creativity and dynamism to face up to the impact of climate change, no matter their size or their situation, their political beliefs or their institutional and economic capacities.

·          Indeed, we strongly believe that climate protection does not depend solely on an agreement between nation states. The real difference will be made in the way our citizens adapt their everyday lives and perceive the future for their children. This is the day-to-day challenge that we, as local elected representatives, need to respond to. We are the most appropriate level of governance for raising public awareness and motivating people to make significant changes in their behaviour and lifestyles. It is in leading by example that we will succeed.

·          However, the task is so enormous that it calls for immediate, resolute and collective action at all political levels and for renewed multi-level governance. Local and regional authorities often lead the way and they should be fully recognised as important stakeholders and fully-fledged partners in this complex global issue.

·          This report builds upon the recommendations and resolutions on climate change and energy adopted over the past years by our Congress where we have constantly asked for this recognition.

·           We are convinced that cities and regions can assume an even stronger role, at the frontline, undertaking effective steps to combat and adapt to climate change. To this end we must ensure that international organisations and national governments provide the necessary political support to reinforce their role, to set up strong partnerships and to empower them by giving them the necessary capacities and resources - in the form of adapted financial means - to enable them to put in place adequate mitigation and adaptation measures.

·          2009 is a key year for our climate. In a few days time, early in December the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Copenhagen. This meeting is extremely important as the international community will have to conclude the negotiations on a new climate agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. They will have to determine the action that both industrial and developing countries will need to take in order to lower their emissions of greenhouse gases after 2012.

·          I have the feeling that the intergovernmental method, with all its faults, is back in fashion and the texts discussed last week in Bangkok make no reference to the decisive role of local and sub-national levels on a common long term vision on the measures to be taken to reduce emissions; however their role for adaptation is recognised.

Dear Colleagues,

·          Our view is that local and regional authorities’ action is crucial if national greenhouse gas reduction targets are to be met. Therefore we demand that local and regional authorities are involved in the preparation of Copenhagen. Their presence in this diplomatic process is strategically all the more important.  The credibility of such an agreement will rely on the commitment of all stakeholders. We are convinced that a delegation, in which diverse opinions are represented, including those of local and regional authorities, will place governments in a better position to effectively influence the negotiations;

·          Therefore we call on national governments to include members of local and regional authorities in their national delegations to Copenhagen and consider them as partners in the actions to be undertaken. 

·          President Micallef has addressed a letter to the heads of government of our 47 member states and observers to the Council of Europe with the same objective. The answers we have received so far reveal that although sub-national levels are sometimes considered as partners in designing national policies and programmes, their presence in intergovernmental negotiations has not yet entered into governments’ habits and more work is needed to ensure this happens. 

·          In this respect, I would like to mention here the remarkable partnership between the leading local and regional government associations and networks in Europe and in the world. We are all working together to lobby for an inclusive agreement where the role of all levels of government is explicitly spelled out in several chapters, not only in the one on adaptation but also on mitigation. Any financial mechanisms and the capacity building efforts that shall be agreed on must include the support of climate actions at local level.

Dear colleagues,

·          At the moment, we are experiencing the most serious economic crisis since the decentralisation process started to gain momentum in Europe and it is extremely difficult in this context to ensure the potential of local and regional levels in the fight against climate change faces is recognised.

·          Climate change requires the deployment of the necessary financial resources. This crisis should not be a pretext for weakening the resources which are needed for ambitious action. On the contrary, we consider that it constitutes an opportunity for governments to give a low carbon focus to their economies and undertake a programme of green recovery measures and investments which will create new jobs.

·          Moreover, climate change has an impact on the very future of humankind; it affects the very basic elements of human life and thus a range of fundamental rights. We are convinced that sustainable development has become a democratic issue in itself and the new climate agreement should include the human rights dimension. 

·          Current negotiations are encountering difficulties but we all know that we are under the obligation to find joint agreements equal to the stakes. To succeed in combating climate change, we must all play our part with the seriousness that the circumstances demand. It is only by working together with a sense of responsibility for present and future generations that we will succeed and that agreements such as the one expected in Copenhagen will have genuine and lasting value.

·          I thank you for your attention and look forward to your comments and the discussion we will now hold on these texts.