The cities of Espoo (Finland), Mannheim (Germany) and Umeå (Sweden) have joined forces in ALLIANCE, an EU-funded project accelerating the transformation towards sustainability through the Local Green Deals.
CLIMAA brings together the cities of Aalborg (Denmark) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and the Network for Sustainable Business Development (Aalborg), MKB Amsterdam and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability to: co-create a working methodology to engage and onboard local SMEs regarding Local Green Deals; co-design a Local Green Deal template, and implement Local Green Deals.
The Cities of Valencia, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Wroclaw, Lodz and Ghent have joined forces with ICLEI Europe to implement the Fair Local Green Deals project. Putting participation at its core, the project aims to find tailored approaches for involving citizens and other local stakeholders in each of its pilot cities with special attention to the inclusion of minorities and marginalised groups.
The EU Green Deal reflects the need for a fundamental transformation of Europe towards a sustainable development path. In order to be successful, the Green Deal needs to resonate throughout societies across all Member States, create ownership and a positive narrative of how (well) Europeans will live in 20-30 years. For the time being, the mandate of the current European Commission ends in 2027 – this is why visible steps need to be taken before then, should the EU Green Deal unfold its potential beyond that time.
Standard EU approaches to policy implementation will not be sufficient to achieve the aspired change. The EU Green Deal has to link up policy domains and go deep into governance levels – it needs to become a horizontally and vertically integrated transformation strategy.
Ultimately, the place where all the policy areas of the EU Green Deal are integrated in one defined spatial area is the city. It is there that action must happen to promote sustainability as a mindset, creating resonance and ownership among European societies, the EU Green Deal needs a local component, rooted at the governance level closest to the citizens: Local government. It is for this reason that the success of the EU Green Deal hinges on the creation of Local Green Deals.
A ‘deal’ is an agreement, not just a plan. Therefore, Local Green Deals are going far beyond the usual ‘action planning’ approach: Together with local businesses, stakeholder organisations and civil society initiatives, local governments agree to initiatives supporting the city's sustainability goals. Each of those actions address several of the local priorities, building bridges between sectors and aligning with the 9 policy areas of the EU Green Deal. Together with national government institutions, they can add components to their deal, allowing them room for experiments outside current legal framework conditions – to pioneer solutions leading to potential future changes in legislation and taxation. ICLEI has led the contribution to the Intelligent Cities Challenge’s (ICC) focus on Local Green Deals (LGDs) and has authored the ICC LGD Blueprint for action - which was recently updated and is now available online. The blueprint is the first and only guide existing for LGDs.
Read the Local Green Deals - A Blueprint for Action
To clarify the similarities and distinctions between Local Green Deals and the Climate City Contracts of the 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 Mission, ICLEI Europe has released a briefing paper "Same, Same, but Different: clarifying the relationship between Local Green Deals and Climate City Contracts as non-regulatory governance innovation".
The Mannheim Message adopted at the 9th European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns in autumn 2020 calls for Local Green Deals as the nucleus of a collaborative implementation process for the EU Green Deal.
The Basque Declaration, which was acclaimed by the participants of the 8th European Conference on Sustainable Cities & Towns, held in the Basque Country from 27-29 April 2016, outlines pathways European cities and towns can use to create productive, sustainable and resilient cities for a liveable and inclusive Europe.
These pathways provide cities and towns with the tools they need to implement Local Green Deals in their communities.
Other useful tools
"Green Deal Going Local" – European Committee of the Regions
"Local Green Deals - A Blueprint for Action" – Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC)
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
European Secretariat
Leopoldring 3
79098 Freiburg
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 761 – 368 92 0
Fax: +49 (0) 761 – 368 92 19
E-mail: info@sustainablecities.eu
Website: www.sustainablecities.eu