Brussels
Tuesday 10 October 2023

Breathe, eat, live. The future of cities and regions with the EU Green Deal | Participatory lab

Breathe, eat, live. The future of cities and regions with the EU Green Deal | Participatory lab

09.30 - 11.00
Progressive Local Lab
European Committee of the Regions Brussels
from: English
Green Deal , Young local leaders

The European Green Deal is not a law. But it has inspired a legislative storm, a radical 30-year project to tackle climate change and make the EU climate neutral by 2050. It covers every aspect of society and the economy and includes goals for biodiversity and agriculture. This 'deal' aims to be Europe's 'new growth strategy', based on the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, for an economy and politics that is 'more caring'.

Tackling climate change must be inseparable from fighting against social and territorial inequalities. This is about climate justice, the 'just' division, fair sharing, and equitable distribution of the burdens of climate change, and the responsibilities of its mitigation and adaptation policies. 
We advocate for a policymaking focused on people and territories most vulnerable to the impact of the climate crisis.

Local and regional authorities are already at the forefront of translating the EU's green objectives into reality on the ground, building climate-resilient livelihoods guided by the principle of fairness, social justice and territorial cohesion. 

With this participatory lab, we progressive cities and regions wanted to send a clear message ahead of the next European elections 2024: the European Green Deal provides a plausible avenue for responding to the multiple dimensions of poverty we are facing and we are working to make it an affordable solution.

 

This lab, took place during the European Week of Regions and Cities and focused on three areas where the EU Green Deal is working to ensure a greener and more liveable life for all:

  • Breathe – improving air quality through green spaces, sustainable mobility and circular economy;
  • Eat – making food systems fair, healthy and environmentally friendly;
  • Live – tackling the renovation wave while eradicating energy and mobility poverty.

 

Participants worked together to shape a declaration that endorsed during the conclusion.

In order to make this event accessible to all, interpretation was available at the opening session, the closing session as well as the roundtable "Eat" in DE-EN-FR-IT-DA-EL-ES-PT-FI-SV-LT-RO-HR with BG and SK only in passive.

It is your time to have a say and participate in the creation of a better, just and greener future for all!

 

WATCH THE RECORDING IN ALL LANGUAGES HERE

President of European Committee of the Regions

Moderator: Laeticia Thissen, Senior Policy Analyst at the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS)

9:30-9:40 Opening

  • Christophe Rouillon, PES Group President in the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Mayor of Coulaines
  • Javi López, S&D Member of the European Parliament, Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

9:40-10:30 Tables discussion 

Participants will choose one of the tables

  • Table 1 "Breathe": improving air quality through green spaces, sustainable mobility, circular economy - EN without interpretation
    • Alison Gilliland, Member of the PES Group in the CoR and Dublin City Councillor
    • Margherita Tolotto, Policy Manager for Air and Noise, European Environmental Bureau

 

  • Table 2 "Eat": making food systems fair, healthy and environmentally friendly 
    • Sandrine Vokaer, Manager Good Food Service, Bruxelles Environnement
    • Christophe Clergeau, S&D Member of the European Parliament, Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

 

  • Table 3 "Live": tackling the renovation wave while eradicating energy and mobility poverty - EN without interpretation 
    • Kata Tüttő, Vice-President of the PES Group in the CoR and Deputy Mayor of Budapest
    • Arianna Censi, Member of the PES Group in the CoR and Local councillor of Milan in charge of mobility

 

10:30-10:40 Presentation of the outcome

10:40-11:00 Conclusions

  • Remarks by Elly Schlein, Leader of PD Italy
  • Closing by Vasco Alves Cordeiro, President of the European Committee of the Regions
  • Endorsement of the declaration
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