WHAT IS IT?
The Urban Agenda for the EU was launched in May 2016 with the Pact of Amsterdam.
It represents a new multi-level working method promoting cooperation between Member States, cities, the European Commission and other stakeholders in order to stimulate growth, liveability and innovation in the cities of Europe and to identify and successfully tackle social challenges.
WHY URBAN AGENDA?
The European Union is one of the most urbanised areas in the world. Today, more than 70% of Europe’s citizens lives in an Urban Area.
Urban Areas of all sizes can be engines of the economy which boost growth, create jobs for their citizens and enhance the competitiveness of Europe in a globalised economy.
Urban Authorities play a crucial role in the daily life of all EU citizens. Urban Authorities are often the level of government closest to the citizens. The success of European sustainable urban development is highly important for the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European Union and the quality of life of its citizens.
Partnership on Climate Adaptation
The City of Genoa partecipates as coordinator of the Partnership on Climate Adaptation, one of the fourteen priority themes that Urban Agtenda for the EU deals with.
What?
The Partnership on Climate Adaptation aims to find the best way to translate the needs of cities into concrete action through proposals of better regulation, funding and knowledge exchange, to achieve a common awareness level of the criticality of climate change, to develop progressively city capacities to address the impacts of such change.
Why?
Vulnerability assessments, climate resilience and risk management are needed to anticipate the adverse effects of climate change and take appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damages they could cause to Urban Areas, such as human deaths and injuries, permanently or temporarily displaced people, properties, infrastructures, services, ecosystem services, agricultural systems, psychological well-being and safety perception, financial or economic loss.
Who?
The Partnership on Climate Adaptation, coordinated by the City of Genoa, includes six local authorities - the Province of Barcelona and the Cities of Glasgow, Trondheim, Potenza, Loulè and Sfantu Gheorghe, four Member States - France, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria - and the Directorates-General of the European Commission - REGIO, CLIMA, RTD, ECHO. Other european organizations are EuroCities, CERM-Council of European Regions and Municipalities, EIB-BEI European Investment Bank, and URBACT. Key stakeholder are DG JRC, EEA and the Covenant of Mayors.
How?
The Partnership, through thematic working groups activities, defined an Action Plan where every action will be implemented in urban areas with the multilevel governance support and participation. Partner and stakeholder are action leaders; they defined a work plan to engage more contributor to maximise results during the implementation phase. Animating the second circle the whole action plan's activities would rather collect the evidence expected by the EU Commission.
Objectives and proposed actions
The set of actions proposed in the action plan falls within the three specific objectives of the Amsterdam Pact, BETTER REGULATION, BETTER FUNDING, BETTER KNOWLEDGE.
The City of Genoa supports the partner as contributing institution in actions F1, K1 and K3.
| Better regulation | |
|---|---|
| R1 | Analysis of national multilevel urban development and planning regulations with focus on climate adaptation |
| Better funding | |
| F1 | Guidelines and toolkit for the economic analysis of adaptation projects |
| F2 | Including recommendations for the OPs of the ERDF in order to improve its accessibility for municipalities |
| F3 | A new LIFE for urban adaptation projects |
| Better knowledge | |
| K1 | Improving EU municipalities knowledge in the framework of Copernicus Climate Change Service |
| K2 | Enhancing the local content of Climate-ADAPT |
| K3 | Political training on climate adaptation |
| K4 | Enhancing stakeholder involvement at regional and local levels |
| K5 | Promote open access of insurance data for climate risk management |
| K6 | Further engagement of national and sub-national government’s associations as key facilitators (and relevant Covenant of Mayors supporters) to best support local authorities in their adaptation process |
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