29 Amendments of Eleonora EVI related to 2017/2006(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
Citation 8 a (new)
- having regard to the European Environment Agency reports No 12/2016 “Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe 2016” and No 1/2017 “Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe 2016”,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the 7th Environment Action Programme (EAP), which will be guiding European environment policy until 2020, identifies the improvement of the sustainability the Union’s cities as a priority objective, along with the horizontal three key objectives of protecting, conserving and enhancing the Union’s natural capital, of turning the Union into a resource-efficient, green, and competitive low-carbon economy, of safeguarding the Union’s citizens from environment-related pressures and risks to health and wellbeing;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that regions and cities have already shown their commitmentintention of committing themselves to combating climate change as major contributors to the LPAA and NAZCA initiatives; welcomes initiatives such as the EU Covenant of Mayors and the Under 2 Degrees Memorandum of Understanding;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas, according to the key findings of EEA report No.12/2016, the observed changes in climate are already having wide-ranging impacts on ecosystems, economic sectors and human health and well-being in Europe; whereas, moreover, recent studies show that various observed changes in the environment and society, such as changes in forest species, the establishment of invasive alien species and disease outbreaks, have been caused or enhanced by global climate change;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Recalls that the transport sector is responsible for emissions both of greenhouse gases and of air pollutants that are hazardous to health, whose concentration in urban air is regulated by Directive 2012/2284/EC;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Notes that many cities and regions in the Union are taking political decisions which go in the opposite direction to the Paris commitments, such as investments in extraction of fossil fuels, the construction of road transport infrastructure, use of large areas of land at the expense of natural areas, and territorial support for industrial activities with high greenhouse gas emissions;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas more than 70% of the EU population live in cities; whereas, moreover, the EU is responsible for 9% of global emissions, and its cities generate 75% of them;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for a better integratthe inclusion of regions and cities within the UNFCCC process, so as to establish a permanent direct dialogue between the different levels, starting at local and regional; stresses that this is particularly important given the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, which led many US states and cities to reiteratein UNFCCC debates in order for their positions to be represented there and to facilitate the dissemination of local best practices with regard to climate change mitigation and adaptation; welcomes the decisions of individual States, cities and undertakings which have reaffirmed their commitment to reducinge their GHG emissions despite the decision by President Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recalls that, in order to meet the obligations resulting from the Paris Agreement, it is necessary not only to reduce emissions, but also to increase the absorption capacity of CO2 in soil so that, in the second half of the century, we could expect a net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Recalls that the incineration of 1 tonne of waste generates between 0.7 and 1.2 tonnes of CO2, between 50% and 67% of that being of fossil origin;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Urges the Commission and the Member States to draw up a regulatory framework providing access to financial measures that take account of the specific features and of the long-term value of local energy communities for the energy market, the environment and society, and to promote the role of single prosumers in connection with renewables, with a view to greater self-sufficiency and self- generation;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Emphasises the lack of a reporting system on the percentages of funding from the Structural and Cohesion Funds allocated for mitigation and adaptation measures by local authorities;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Calls on the Commission to include the obligation for Member States to indicate the percentage of EU funds spent at local level to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to ensure spatial adaptation to climate change;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4c. Calls on the Commission to make the approval of operational plans conditional on a clear indication from the regional authorities of detailed information about spending on mitigation and adaptation, including descriptions of the expected results;
Amendment 71 #
11a. Welcomes the introduction of mechanisms such as ex-ante conditionalities and climate-relevant thematic objectives in the 2014-2020 Cohesion Policy Framework-such as TO4 “Supporting the shift towards a low- carbon economy in all sectors”, TO5 “Promoting climate change adaptation, risk prevention and management”, TO6 “Preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency”; stresses however, that, in spite of the improved coherence and precision of climate relevant impact and result indicators, these latter are not sufficient to establish the level of Cohesion Policy contribution to delivery of the EU’s overall climate objectives;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Recalls the commitment to devote at least 20% of the EU 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework to climate change adaptation and mitigation and remarks that climate spending estimates for 2014-2020 cohesion policy in commitment appropriations are about 57 billion euro(37021.4 million from ERDF, 18062.2 from CF, 1133.3 from ESF);
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. Asks the Commission and the Member States to take into duly consideration the findings of the 2016 European Court of Auditors Special Report no.31 , which warns that there is a serious risk that the 20% target will not be met without more effort to tackle climate change, and which points out that in the European Social Fund, as well as in the areas of agriculture, rural development and fisheries, there has been no significant shift towards climate action and not all potential opportunities for financing climate-related action have been fully explored;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Recommends that in the future Multi-Annual Financial Framework the mainstreaming of climate objectives should be further improved, for instance by linking cohesion policy investment more closely to Member States’ overall plans to deliver the 2030 target and by ensuring that EU expenditure provides a specific, measurable contribution towards the delivery of the EU targets;
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Calls on the competent authorities to guide agricultural and forestry production towards activities that can reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions and draw up plans to allow a progressive increase of absorption capacity on the part of soil;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on the European Commission to propose a revision of the European Solidarity Fund based on four key points: faster procedure for the mobilisation of the resources, increasing of the total budget, increasing of the amount of the advance (currently capped at EUR 30 million), revision of the eligibility thresholds;
Amendment 90 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Encourages local authorities to implement plans for transport and logistics to promote electrified public and private transport, including by restricting certain areas for use only by bicycles and electric vehicles and by providing easy- access recharging points in numbers geared to needs;
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Calls on local authorities to undertake information campaigns, including in cooperation with representatives of catering establishments, concerning the carbon footprint of food, in order to educate people about healthy eating and food that has a small impact on the climate;
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Calls on the competent bodies to tackle the problem of waste with a view to the full realisation of the circular economy and promoting modes of disposal other than incineration for the fraction that is not reusable or recyclable;
Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e. Calls on cities and regions to guide the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy production that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution; notes that regions and cities can play an essential role in the decarbonisation of society and that their involvement in the creation of an energy system based on renewables should be a priority for the EU and the individual Member States;
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 f (new)
Paragraph 6 f (new)
6f. Welcomes the inclusion of thematic objectives TO4, TO5 and TO6 in the basis for channelling cohesion funding; recalls that, according to the European Court of Auditors, the commitment to ensure that at least 20% of the Multiannual Financial Framework is spent on climate measures in 2014-2020 may not be achieved in the absence of additional measures;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 g (new)
Paragraph 6 g (new)
6g. Highlights the importance of ensuring that at least 5% of rural development funds (from the ERDF) are without fail used to fund climate change adaptation and mitigation measures;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Highlights the important role played by cross-border cooperation in the action carried out by regions and cities, and reiterates the need to strengthen this tool politically and financially; underlines that a framework for the implementation of joint actions and policy exchanges between national, regional and local actors from different Member States like Interreg is particularly appropriate to tackle climate change and to carry out suitable actions aimed at mitigating its effects; welcomes, in this regard, that 7 of the 15 transnational Interreg programmes across Europe finance strategies, pilot actions, training, tools, to help towns build capacities to lower CO2 emission and mitigate climate change in order to reach EU targets;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Stresses the importance of the earmarking of at least 5% of the ERDF budget in the support of integrated sustainable urban development strategies addressing economic, environmental, climate, demographical and social challenges; acknowledges the pivotal role of cities as potential actors of radical decarbonisation (e.g. by investing in renewable energies, in green technology hubs) and as first beneficiaries of climate actions (e.g. reduced air pollution from green transport infrastructures, reduction of heat waves and of flood risks);
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23 a (new)
Paragraph 23 a (new)
23a. Calls on the European Commission to propose that, in the post - 2020 Cohesion policy framework, delivery of emission reductions (along with other actions such as reclamation works or activities aimed at regenerating and decontaminating brownfield sites) should be a key element in the assessment of performance of Operational Programmes: stresses, moreover, that, in order to deliver the longer term objectives of the Paris Agreement, a greater coherence of investment with a long-term decarbonisation trajectory for the Region/Member State/EU market as a whole is needed;