CoR members, gathering at their plenary session in Brussels today, adopted by overwhelming majority the draft opinion on the Review of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), by PES member Marco Dus, Member of Vittorio Veneto Municipal Council (Italy).
"Due to their very nature, local and regional authorities play a leading role in developing successful initiatives to combat climate change. It is therefore vital to involve them in the reform of Europe's carbon market and to fully use their potential and knowledge in making this process a success", underlined the rapporteur, calling for a more ambitious and forward-looking approach aimed at better delivering ETS reform on the ground.
In his draft opinion, Marco Dus makes a series of concrete recommendations which will strengthen the role of local and regional authorities with regard to the ETS, including:
- Proposing that Member States should set a minimum threshold of at least 20% of auction revenues to be managed directly by local and regional authorities for climate mitigation and adaptation measures;
- Continuing to gradually increase the number of allowances to be auctioned, in order to avoid the risk of carbon leakage and preserve Europe's competitiveness;
- Demanding recognition for the role of local and regional authorities in implementing the Paris agreement reached during COP;
- Opening the Modernisation Fund to NUTS 2 regions in Member States with internal imbalances, to allow smaller local and regional authorities to benefit from this fund.
The rapporteur also makes a number of general recommendations, in particular with regard to exploring additional policy tools to reduce CO2 emissions, including the idea of a carbon tax.
In the coming months, the CoR PES Group will further develop its key positions in the fight against climate change through the CoR opinion on Delivering the Paris climate agreement – a territorial approach (rapporteur: CoR ENVE President Francesco Pigliaru, PES/Italy).
