 is becoming more and more evident to everybody's eyes. We need to act urgently and move stop what UN Secretary General called as a climate carnage, I quote. We do not have much time to get back on track and keep the climate emergency under control. And we know that what will be decided in Charmel Shake will shape the climate and energy policies of the EU and of member states and have an impact on all local and regional authorities and even beyond the EU on the entire world. The decisions at COP27 will be taken at in the middle of possibly the worst energy crisis ever with worrying peaks of energy poverty affecting vulnerable families, small companies, local authorities all over the EU. But this should not take us by surprise. The climate crisis was exacerbated by Putin's invasion of Ukraine. But as I had the opportunity to mention yesterday, the reason why we must address this issue, the reason why we must reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, for example, should not be because of the invasion because we should be doing that for decades now. I will now open the debate with a first round of interventions. And I have here at the podium Mr. Baas Ekut, Mr. Traskowski, Mr. Deixma, our colleague, Alison Gilliland, our colleague, Geblevic and Chalstowski. We will see that Mr. Sefiani is connected. And as first speaker, I'm happy to welcome MEP Baas Ekut, Member of the European Parliament, Vice-Chair of the ENVY Committee. Welcome to the Committee of the Regents. It's a pleasure to have you here. And I will, without further delay, give you the floor. You have the floor for five minutes? Okay, go ahead. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. And good morning, everyone. It's good to be here because indeed, as you already said, these are crucial times from a climate perspective, but certainly also from an energy security perspective. And I think we all know that very well, what the challenges are. And I think, indeed, the time for climate action has never been so clear before. On the one hand, if you look at the impacts, and I think we all from the different regions of Europe have seen the impact of climate change during this summer. So, and I think, of course, that's not even the only impact that we've seen, and probably quite often, as an example, will also be mentioned Pakistan, for example, if you look at the flooding and the impacts over there, where one-third of the country is being flooded. And these kind of impacts will, we will see more and more, and will also shape the negotiations in Sharm al-Shaik. Because for a very long time, climate change was, of course, dominated by the debate on climate ambition. What are we going to do to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases? Then, for a very long while, of course, adaptation has been at the forefront as well. But more and more, we will need to discuss loss and damage, the impacts of climate change that will happen even if we have adaptation in place. And this third element was introduced already during the Paris climate summit in 2015, but is one of the kind of most sticking elements in the international negotiations on what does that mean and how will it look like if we are going to embrace and further work on issues like loss and damage. I will get back to that on what I think will be happening in Sharm al-Shaik this November. But I think what is very important then first, of course, is also to make sure that we as Europe have our own house in order. And that's, of course, exactly what we are working on as we speak in negotiations at the European level. On the one hand, there is the famous A FIT for 55 package that will bring the European Union to deliver on greenhouse gas reductions of 55% by 2030. But on top of that, and you, Mr. Chair, already, Mr. President, already said that and alluded to that, due to the war in Ukraine, there's also now a very clear push to accelerate the energy transition, to faster get our energy system independent of fossils and certainly, of course, of Russian fossils, but in fossils in general is going to be the big challenge. So FIT for 55 and an acceleration of FIT for 55, especially on energy savings and on renewables, renewable energy, is what is on the agenda and is also, I think, important that some of these elements will be closed before we go to Schamelscheich. You all know that European Union sometimes can be quite tedious and long in negotiations, but I think we cannot really maintain that pace and we have to accelerate that pace and all the negotiators are very well aware. But then, of course, still the big question is what can we deliver before we go into Schamelscheich because that's basically in three weeks' time. So the time is pressing. I think what you will can expect is that some of these files, some of these elements of FIT for 55, can be concluded and will be concluded before we go and one on that will be on land use change policies which will really also, if we do it well, increase our reduction target even beyond 55. So then also as a European Union we can show that we are doing even more than the 55%, which is on the table and is possible if we do it right. I also think one of the other files, which is always a bit of a sensitive one, but an important one because everyone understands this on CO2 and cars, the end of the combustion engine, which is in the cars too that that will be concluded that by 2035 Europe will not deliver any combustion engine on the European market anymore and also that is a delivery which, of course, will have an impact in the international negotiations. So that's on the one hand what Europe could and should deliver when we go to Schammelsheik on climate ambition, but as I said, the main other element in the discussion will be on loss and damage. Not only talking about climate adaptation anymore, but also really how do we deal with the impacts of climate change that we will see, that we have seen, and that we will see more and more. And here I really think that it's going to be important and this is my last plea also to hear to the Committee of Regions is that we hopefully can get to a situation where it's also the regions, the regional governments can show what they are doing on climate action, on mitigation, on adaptation, because this is what needs to happen in the regions, of course, but also that we are all very well aware that the next debate that we also need to have within Europe, how are we going to deal with the impacts of climate change, which is then framed as loss and damage in international negotiations. And this is where, of course, the role of regional authorities is becoming more and more important because the impacts we will all feel at home more. And I think that will be certainly at Schammelsheik an important topic to address and where people will expect more from us Europeans as well. I think I'll leave it to that because it's sort of five minutes. Kind of, I know. Mr. Toscalski is the chair of the C.O.R. and the Commission. Now it's my pleasure to give you the floor for five minutes. Yes. Muito obrigado, Presidente. And the Mayor of Warsaw. Well, first of all, yes. First of all, I wanted to tell you that when Paris Agreement was negotiated, we thought that there is a problem for the next generation. The problem is for us. It's not for the next generation. And I think that the situation is much worse than many of us think. Mr. Egghout was saying that many people now want to accelerate. And yes, that's exactly what we should do. We should accelerate the energy transition. But there are many in Europe who think that we should actually stop or procrastinate because of what are the problems around us. And of course, the problem and the multiple crises around us are incredibly serious because we are getting out of the pandemic. We have a very serious war on our eastern border and we have an energy crisis with crazy energy prices and with people thinking that they might not be able to sustain themselves throughout the winter. And of course, many will use that argument to say, okay, guys, we cannot be that ambitious. We have to stop for a while and we have to focus on what's the most important thing, getting us through the winter. That's the biggest problem because we have to do both. We have to help the people, but we cannot lose our ambitions from sight. And of course, the voice of the local and regional authorities is absolutely crucial at that moment because at the end of the day, we are the ones implementing all of those measures. And at the end of the day, we are the ones who are at the forefront of all these challenges. And sometimes we have difficult governments in our countries which are not sharing our ambitions. That's why we need to go to Sharma Sheikh and make sure that our voice is being heard. We've been talking about EU sovereignty for years. And of course, some member states didn't hear it because they thought that they could make themselves dependent on Russia because it's a normal democratic country. How many times have we heard that? And other countries such as mine didn't think that adapting to climate change should happen quickly and they stopped the whole transition or they slowed it down. So we do have our share of serious problems and that's why we should do everything we can to create those synergies between European institutions, synergies between member states who want to be ambitious, institutions who want to be ambitious and us people on the ground responsible for actually implementing these measures as mayors of the cities, as councillors who take decisions and of course as regional leaders. And that's why we need not only to prepare our position and to talk to our partners so that we are in sync and we're speaking in the same language that we are on the same page but that our message is clearly heard and that's what we are going to do. At the same time taking care of the energy poverty of helping people in distress because at the end of the day this is really our responsibility, our prime responsibility. But we cannot forget about what we need to do because no one will forgive us if we were to stop the transition and of course Europe needs to be more and more independent and Europe needs to be more and more green. We need to lead by example and for that we need to use all of our contacts, all of our possible means also when it comes to contacting international players through organisations such as C40 and the Committee of the Regions has a crucial role to play. Finally I'd like to thank the European Parliament for everything us, the members of all of the states and regions and our colleagues from the European Parliament for the legislative process is going to be supported by our voice I think that we can be more effective and lead the way and make people aware that in times of crises multiple crises that's the time where you need to think out of the box that's the time when you need to be ambitious because in this dire situation where the recovery plan is blocked for some countries for the irresponsible behaviour of the government we need the financing that's why we're going to also come back to the idea of direct financing all the financing for the cities especially the cities which are ambitious such as the ones which like to make a plea let's be proactive together dear President, dear members we're aware that we cannot make the climate change disappear from one day to another but we need to make sure that Egypt is not accused of disappointment and that the situation does not get any worse thank you very much thank you so much Rafal Trasov, Trasovsky here also the Chair of the Envy Commission pleasure and honour to be with you to Mr Sharon Deixma, Mayor of Utrecht and ICLEI Europe Envoy to COP 27 Mayor, you have the floor for five minutes well Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen thank you for having me here I'm here as a Mayor and indeed as a special envoy on behalf of the city network within the UN framework to the United Nations in Charmel Scheik and I have a task and that is actually to bring out the voice of the cities much more on the international level and also within the UN discussion and I have to tell you that I see that it's not so easy to do this because until now you see that the voices of cities are informal voices the time voices that are not is here to convert Mike is having a problem we have technical staff I have two minutes I'm sorry Yes Do you guarantee it's back and functioning normally I can hear you that was not what I asked I don't know what was the issue I hope it's... when you have an answer for me the problem is it was on so you guarantee I can start okay I don't think how don't be nervous it can happen please go ahead it's okay so I restart no problem I get an additional minute very good so good morning I have to maybe also tell you something about myself because I'm not only the mayor of Utrecht for those of you who are not familiar with the Netherlands Utrecht is the fourth largest city and we're one of the so-called 100 cities which are selected by the European Commission to be carbon neutral by 2030 which is a big challenge as you all know but in the year 2015 I was minister for the environment on behalf of the Netherlands and in that position I was able to negotiate on behalf of the European Union at that time with Commissioner Kanyeter on the Paris Agreement and I felt at that time already and I think that many of you will have had the same that it was an historic event but in the years that followed we really didn't do things very well so a game changer is necessary and I think the previous speakers told you why this is so important and in my opinion cities could be that game changer because in 2040 or 50 almost 70 percent of the people worldwide will live in the cities many of the pollution which takes place in the cities and at the same times you see that cities all over the world are part of the solution because they are more progressive in their policy on climate for instance they understand why it's necessary to have clean air for the and therefore I think working so important that you have the formal position that they really need and it means that we work now together with the Egyptian presidency on several initiatives to really give the cities more of a podium also in the international stage first of all for the first time there will be at this high level a ministerial meeting with mayors on 17 November in Charmel Scheik and there we will discuss an initiative on sustainable urban climate policy in which we try to bring the voice of cities further because cities need access not only to expertise but also to means in order to get their climate policy in order and I think that that is a very important initiative and I'm really happy with the support of the Egyptian presidency for it and I have organized that we have a call to action in which we state how relevant this voice of the cities have to be and it means that I really hope that all of you would like to subscribe this call to action because we need to make our voice heard and at this moment still cities are an informal part of COP and although it is the first time that multi-level covenants will be discussed at COP in Charmel Scheik I hope it is the last time that cities do not have a formal position within COP so I really think that there is a possibility to make it happen the Egyptian presidency is cooperating with us UN Habitat is cooperating with us and also the secretariat of the UN FCC is cooperating with us so I hope that also today we all understand how important it is to really get the cities much more at the forefront on the international stage and we need to make the change because a lot of things that my both neighbours have been saying are things that will happen in our cities and I think that you agree with me that that is really important so I thank you again for having me here to stress out what we need to do and I really hope that we see in Charmel Scheik a new dawn in this and probably we can see the sun so let's hope for the best thank you very much thank you so much for your inputs and insights about this issue now it is my pleasure to give the floor to Mohamed Sefiani he is mayor of Chev Chauvin he is ICLEI Africa chair welcome to the committee to take the regions and you have the floor for five minutes thank you very much Mr. Chair Distinguished members of the European committee of the regions I am delighted to join you in my capacity of the chair of ICLEI Africa regional executive committee and the ICLEI's COP 27 special envoy for Africa to send in my warmest regards from the UCLG World Congress in Daejeun in the Republic of Korea where I am connecting to you virtually at the outset I would like to commend the leadership of the committee of the regions in climate and sub-national diplomacy as a long-term and passionate partner of the LGMA constitutionally UNFGC I am delighted to hear the renewal collaboration between ICLEI and the committee of the regions as a concrete example of this collaboration I am happy in here that this event is also announced as part of the Daejeun cities forum 2022 agenda towards COP 27 through this opportunity I would like to congratulate Mayor Rafael Zakowski for his elections as the new chair of the Environment Commission Councilor Alisson Gilliland in drafting of the COP 27 position at COP 27 ICLEI will proudly continue its collaboration with the committee of the regions through multi-level action, pavilion and other events for major initiatives and the first even meeting of organization and climate are among the more concrete agenda for cities and regions at COP 27 holistic, multi-level and inclusive approach to sustainable organization and multi-level action as a regular agenda item under the UNFGC process in a decades long position of ICLEI and LG Mayor Constitucing I am informed that of regular dialogues between Minister of Environment and Minister of Organization at the UNFGC FORA was proposed by ICLEI at the first UNFGC workshop on organization at COP 18 in Warsaw in 2013 as the mayor of Shapshaun Intermediacy in Morocco as mayor from Africa the world's youngest and fastest Lebanese in continent I am particularly excited that such exciting and innovative initiatives are being developed at a time when Africa will be hosting and leading climate negotiations therefore ICLEI comments the Egyptian COP 27 presidency for this board leadership as a concrete response to the spirit of multi-level and cooperative action under the Glaxo climate pact and is excited to collaborate with UNHavita to deliver these ideas consistently. But let's remember both Syr's initiative and urbanization and climate ministerial requires strong support from both mayors and ministers around the world in order to succeed at COP 27 therefore I am related to Juan Mayor Gisma in all the consultations since the World Urban Forum in June 2022 under the leadership of Mayor Gisma this call to action is extremely important and essential and therefore the committee of the regions and its member to endorse this call towards and at COP 27 not that primary goal of both Syr's and ministerial is to ensure sustainable urbanization and multi-level action becomes a permanent agenda item and UNFCCC process and upon additional financial channels for cities and regions in particular in the global south in my capacity as Italy's COP 27 special envoy for Africa I am related to hear that leading countries of Africa such as South Africa and my country Morocco have already announced their support and endorsement search initiative Europe has historical responsibility in climate change and has been praised by its long-term leadership in driving ambitious global climate action as well demonstrating good practice of multi-level governments but as of today there is still no European or global north government that has explicit support to this initiative therefore it's important that member of committee of the regions speak to their governments and the European Union to support the search initiatives as well as the first ever ministerial on urbanization and climate and finally the agenda after COP 27 is equally important and the global stock tech is one of the most important processes in this regard I command the active engagement engagement of the committee of the regions in this the first technical dialogue in June 22 and leading the submission on adaptation so the successful UNFCCC advocacy of the LGMI constituency in June 22 the global stock tech is now open to contribution for all cities around the world similar to the spirit of the Talanoa dialogues in 2018 in this regard on behalf of Italy I also would like to invade the committee of the regions and its member to actively engage in localization of the global stock tech in the first half of 23 which will be wanted stock tech for climate emergency thank you I thank you for your interest kind invitation I look forward to working with all member for the COP 27 delegation thank you very much thank you for your input now dear members as you are aware we have now a debate on three opinions that are related to this issue we have the first one is about the COR's role in boosting sub-national climate diplomacy ahead of COP 27 and COP 28 the rapporteur is our member Geblevic we have another opinion towards a structural inclusion of cities and regions of the United Nations COP 27 from our member Gilland and we have the third one about energy package on gas hydrogen and methane emissions from our the rapporteur is our member Chelsowski now I will give the floor to Olga Geblevic five minutes for the presentation of his opinion thank you very much Mr President I'm very proud that not only rapporteur on this opinion but I'm representing the one of the greenest regions in Poland I'm a president of West Pomerania region the biggest producer of green energy in Poland that covers 82 percent of our regional consumption a lot of experience in our region but I'm sure that we have all in our cities and our regions very good examples and we would like to share with those examples with our neighbors because if we want to be really ambitious and if we would like to really implement on the full scale our very ambitious goals climate goals we have to convince our neighbors to do the same so my opinion is going to strengthen sub-national climate diplomacy we have a lot of twin cities all around the world outside of Europe in the committee of regions we have platforms such as Arlem Corlep joint committees, joint group to work together hand in hand with our neighboring countries and we should use it as a tool to strengthen climate ideas, climate goals of course there is a lot to do because we know that in the neighboring country situation is not very easy a lot of the governments in these countries are not very convinced to ambitious climate goals so our way of thinking is that boosting climate diplomacy on the ground with our friends in our neighboring cities and thanks to that we had exerted pressure from the bottom to the national government in the neighboring countries in Africa, in the east and thanks to that be more successful in my opinion I urge to boosting this sub-national diplomacy but I see still the missing legal framework on the rules of cooperation between the cities regions on the sub-national level the lack of funding of course the missing on incomplete information on existing initiative on the European level and lack of investment on local and regional governments in the preparation of nationally determined contribution it should be certainly changed and I suggest that or I propose that COR should start playing a coordinating role representing the position of regional and local authorities from the EU during COP meetings and I think that it should be obvious for all of us that we should be a coordinator and last but not least I would like to draw attention that after this very bloody war Ukraine should be rebuilt and it should be rebuilt as an example of green rebuilding of Ukraine should be the green example how to achieve the common global climate goals thank you very much thank you, Mr. Gilliland you will have the floor for five minutes thank you very much Mr. President distinguished speakers, dear members firstly I would like to acknowledge the collaborative approach to my opinion and thank all the stakeholders and members who have engaged with it and particularly my expert Ms. Giorgio Rambelli Teresa García Perez of the NV secretariat and my past secretariat colleague Francesco Garteri as we have all said the current energy crisis and the extreme weather events of this summer has shown once again the fragility of our ecosystem and the urgent need for effective climate change now today soaring prices continue to strangle our businesses and gobble up the wage packets of households and we cities and regions are also seeing how unsustainable costs may undermine our ability to deliver the basic services to our citizens as we'll partare of the core opinion on towards a structural inclusion of cities and regions in UFCCC COP 27 I like many others here are very concerned that some EU member states and bigger emitters are trying to row back in face of these challenges from what was agreed in Glasgow last year in my opinion I underline the implications that war cannot stop the just unfair transition towards a cleaner more sustainable planet Putin's illegal war in Ukraine does not and cannot take away the urgency to fight climate change on the country it has very much confirmed the need that we need to move more swiftly away from fossil fuels and invest in renewables colleagues I'd like to highlight some points in my opinion one of our main objectives in COP 27 is to see sub-national governments included in the decision making implementing and monitoring of climate and energy policies and actions based on the recognition of the urgent need for multi-level and cooperative action in the Glasgow climate pack last year I call on EU member states and the Czech presidency to recognize the pivotal role of local and regional governments in advancing climate change action and making the decisions that will be adopted at the end of the month joining with my colleagues here I would like to also thank the Envy Committee of the European Parliament for having reflected this message in its draft resolution our final goal is that it is recognized in the COP 27 outcome documents I would like to also welcome as stated in my opinion the organization of the first ever ministerial conference on climate innovation and the launch of a presidency initiative on sustainable urban resilience for the next generation Sergei and I would very much like to thank Mayor Sharon Dyskma for her work on this thank you one of the main priorities of this COP is to advance the global goal on adaptation this means that local regional authorities will have a special road playing Sharon Mulshake in practice adaptation is delivered at local level and in my opinion I underline that a highly urbanized continent such as Europe EU cities are in charge of providing access to safe and inclusive green spaces sustainable housing and resilient public infrastructure but while there is a strong emphasis on adaptation and loss this year we cannot lose sight of mitigation I call on the UNFTBC parties to formally include and determine contributions as complementary to their national determined contributions I also acknowledge the commitments of local and regional authorities participating in such initiatives as the Covenant of Mayors the EU mission on climate neutral and smart cities and the race to zero initiative with regards to mitigation I also recognize the particular challenges of those regions currently with a heavy industrial and employment crisis the most vulnerable citizens cannot be left behind in this regard in the opinion I recognize the multi-generational dimension of change particularly the role of our youth in driving social progress and inspiring political change and I also highlight the importance of mainstreaming gender in climate and energy policies as well as the need to ensure equal and meaningful female participation in decision making and I very much want to recognize the enormous work of my colleague in this regard and I also want to support the contribution of my Irish colleague when she stated that we need more gender awareness in all our work and I would like to thank you for your support and commitment towards advancing climate action we, EU cities and regions are already delivering and we want to deliver more and faster but we are lacking the right technical and financial tools this is why in my opinion I also highlight the urgent need to boost the capacity of our workforce to transition justly and the importance of direct funding available to LRAs rest assured that the core delegation of which I am part will lead by example in Charmel Shake we will voice the concerns of EU citizens we will showcase how we are already delivering on para-skills and we will encourage cities and regions across the EU and around the globe to come forward with more ambitious targets finally we will engage to commit to a formal structure that affords our determined voices a place at the climate table and we will be the game changers that Meridaixma on all of us here want to be thank you colleagues thank you now I would like to give the floor to the rapporteur of the next opinion our colleague Chelstowski you have the floor for five minutes one of the most industrialized regions in Poland thank you very much for the opportunity to present the opinion project of the European Commission of the region so important for the whole European Union the issue that is the praise of the new gas package and the metal equipment I would like to point out that both legal actions that are the subject of our discussions are key to the implementation of strategic investments of green charge and power and you also point out that the issue of the development of water, biomethane and emission of the methane will also be important in the context of the coming climate summit COP 27 in Egypt and the development of our regions the issue was already the topic of hot discussions during the summit COP 26 I would like to clearly point out that the global decarbonization agenda will not be possible to be carried out without emission and the methane should be taken into account as one of the critical heat gases appearing on our planet under the leadership of Wengler due to its harmfulness decarbonization will not be possible without the proper commitment in the territorial device that is why as the European Committee of the region we should follow all the old age to the opinion of the proposed regulations considering this the opinion of many intersarius as well as the differentiated position of the European Union the development of transgressions and joint regulations should be our priority despite the possibility of the difference of opinion in the area of the development of the market we try to speak in common voice it is especially important in the context of the current geopolitical situation and the energy crisis last month it was shown that the main weapon of Russia in the fight with the European Union are energy sources in the consequence it seems that in the current situation the energy transformation takes on the next strategic dimension in addition to limiting the change of climate it is also crucial for the future of the European economy to reduce the price of energy I hope that we will be able to work through this act so that there will be a regulation for many countries outside of the Union with which we will meet this year COP 27 investment scenarios must contain a component of transition and to use the currently built infrastructure for the use of ground gas as well as emission and gas emissions in the consequence it seems that currently the biggest challenge of European energy is to fill new and stable supply of gas ground in low price and at the same time planning the departure from it in the direction of alternative fuel that is why the new gas package should, in my opinion, in the most complete way look at the perspective of transition significantly improve the European region in the development of new business models infrastructure and also ensure the optimal trajectory of decarbonisation of the gas sector let's also remember about the methane emissions which can be a crucial area of the reduction of the European Union in addition to limiting the emission of carbon dioxide to the alternative energy carrier in my opinion I stop looking at the fact that the production of the methane emissions will be an additional challenge technological and cost-effective for the regions of the European Union not less, thanks to the growth of the region in the context of the departure of the methane emissions the characteristic of the trade structure will change and also it will come to modernisation of the operational structure in the consequence you can admit that the emissions reduction of the new gas package and the construction of the green gas market for no reason we assume these right actions in the framework of one legislative procedure we should remember that the regulations of the methane emissions were threatened with a lot of prosperity and with the reduction of the emissions necessary during monitoring, reporting and reducing the methane emissions were used temporarily in such a way that the European Union developed special companies that are technical, cadres and methodological especially important in order to ensure the implementation of strategic and climatic goals but at the same time they changed the position of many inter-series and also a particularly difficult situation on the current energy market I hope that the new gas package will be made of methane at the end of which we will work with the right actions of the beginning of the new energy sector I wish myself and you Mr. Gminy, who we represent can together build an independent and well aware sector of the future gas sector providing the European Union with a strong and safe position in the world I would like to thank all members of the regional committee who actively joined in the process of preparing this opinion from the beginning of the process and its preparation was based on the highest possible degree of view of the region of the entire European Union and also my humble stand against 13-15 scheduled for the plenary session the 7th and 12th amendments are for key assumptions against which we have already worked together to satisfy the compromise on the level of the ENVE committee and these are the only two amendments that I would like you to throw out thank you also for your cooperation with the preparation of this opinion for my expert, Mr. Prof. Grzegorzowicz from the University of Warsaw thank you thank you ladies and gentlemen thank you now we will enter in the debate phase and since our guests may have to leave a little bit earlier I will now pass the floor to him for three minutes for any additional remarks he wishes to make you have the floor thank you very much Mr. President and indeed apologies that I have to leave I have to leave to one of these other lovely buildings that we have in Brussels the European Parliament maybe just because I think a lot has been said and that's all very important and indeed this is also why in the European Parliament resolution it will be hopefully adopted next week in the plenary of the European Parliament in Strasburg is that we are also very clearly calling for recognition of a formal role also of local and regional authorities I think why this is so important and what we need to make sure is that this is not going to be seen as a fight for competence why is this sometimes so sensitive we are very well aware that the United Nations is built on national authorities and that's not what we are challenging here because we know the decisions have to be taken but the point is that the debate on climate change has moved on first of all everyone is talking about it is now about implementation we have done a lot of political acceptance we are not having a debate anymore whether we need to do it it's now a debate what are we going to do and that's implementation and for implementation you need local and regional authorities secondly climate change impact is real and we see that on a daily basis and we will see that more and more and how to deal with that how to prepare for that how to adapt to that is in the hands of local and regional authorities so it would be very surreal to have that discussion without local and regional authorities and also the third element when we are implementing and when we are looking at the impacts it is of course also that climate change is more important and more also a social policy it's not that you have here green policy and you have social policy there on the other side they are inherently connected and if you look at the challenges that we are having around us also on energy poverty then these needs to be addressed together and also here it's local and regional authorities who are the closest to these elements and for these reasons it's so important that we don't say that we have to implement of the national responsibilities but this is a necessary complementary addition that we need to implement not only in the European Union but certainly also at the global level and that's also why we will fight to maintain this point also in the European Parliament's resolution and also to make sure that together we bring this message when we go to Schamelschijk once again I would like to thank you very much again my apologies that I have to leave but the Parliament also needs to work so I will go there now and I really would like to thank you very much and good luck with all the issues that we are having at hand around climate energy and social policies thank you very much now ladies and gentlemen I would like to give the floor to our member Marku for two minutes thank you Mr President it's really good so that I can directly continue about the implementation what we just heard said by the representative of the European Parliament because implementation is what matters as the Mayor of Utrecht said on what you stress that cities can be the game changers actually cities need to be game changers and that's all what we can do and when we talk here about cities it's not only civil servants and politicians it's all city community and with the community I especially stress all including industry educational and research establishments from schools and kindergartens to top universities and it's all citizens cities and communities and that's what makes the big difference and that's what is my EPP message to the next COP as well I've personally been talking about four COPs physically so I know what it is and I know that the future needs to be more that we are showcasing in concrete terms so what the cities with the whole communities can do so it's not only what the implementation needs to be but how we make that to happen and on that so when you Mayor cities so we need to take those showcases so my challenge to the coming COPs is that the CR we need to organize so that we are more concretely there and so we through that convince the national delegates and UN so it's time to get the cities and regional authorities to play a really instrumental role as official partners in these negotiations and we have many of these instruments in our use the missions the innovation agenda and so on let's showcase how we move to action thank you now the floor goes to a member of our young elected politicians program Milena Nonceva you have the floor for one minute thank you I will talk about climate changes that impact energy carriers and energy producers the most serious factor playing role in global climate change is the production of energy carriers and their subsequent use for energy production containing carbon footprint this is the main reason for increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and subsequently disrupting and normally for all life-determining natural features such as the water production and use of renewable energy source and the use of clean carbon free energy is a challenge and a task before the whole world with a view of protection life on a planet I'm a municipal consumer in a small average municipality for Bulgaria Montana municipality that is why I want to share my own analysis of all these processes such as projections in my native municipality and the effect that processes concerning the economy, ecological climate symbiosis. Montana has a favorable business economic climate. More than six enterprises are in the top 50 for Bulgaria and turns for economic indicators even a leading position in Europe and the world. Over the past two years our municipality has teams and extension of ground in the number of permits issued for the development of the industrial and industrial industry. In the last five years we have started photovoltaic plants for businesses and household. With the 10-fold increase in the price of energy every rule to business area in Montana becomes a photovoltaic plants for its energy needs. In this way the businesses normalize energy consumption for previous levels. The next step is to reduce the cost of electricity and to reduce the cost of energy sources. 100% carbon free. Here is my analysis of this situation with the following future findings. There will be a large production of daily electricity in the result of this process. The price of electricity will become stable and predictable for a long time. The cost of energy will drop significantly below the average price of electricity will be reduced to five times of the middle part of the day with the greatest sunshine. This micro level findings in a small municipality like Montana are a reflection of global trends. The alternatives for harvesting energy peaks and not wasting produce electricity at the moment are are an affectionately way to store energy, but with a short-circle life in this technological stage. The problem is that during their production and when they are taken out of use, there's an extremely serious carbon footprint on nature. This issue is another way with technologies that converts our energy into hydrogen, which is stored for use in a dark hours of the day. Thank you. Thank you so much for your participation. It's now my pleasure to give the floor to our member, Kata Tutto. Thank you very much for the floor. First of all, I would like to thank the work of the Rapporteurs, and I would like to absolutely thank Alison Gilland for highlighting the women's perspective. We've been talking about the coming energy crisis, where women will have a heavier burden on their shoulders. But about today's discussion, yes, so we are talking about four pillars. Yes, we've talked about mitigation, so reducing CO2 adaptation, loss and damage. We never talked about biodiversity, that's the third pillar. But the fourth pillar, that's the social pillar, I think that's one of the most important. So when we talk about bridging gaps, yes, cities can bridge gaps of ambition. But I think what is very important now is to bridge gap between the climate goals and our citizens. Because we are asking a lot from our citizens. And I know the active citizens, the ambition citizens, they turn up at the conference in the future of Europe. But we mayors actually meet the silent majority of our citizens, who we ask a lot to buy less, turn off heating, don't use cars, change your life, everything. And when I see the data, I've seen the fresh data from Germany, where the most wealthiest 10% use as much energy as the 40% on the lowest end. And if I have to guess who will turn off heating and who will eat less, it will be the lowest 40% and not the 10% giving up private jets and giving up private swimming pools. So when we talk about social justice, when we talk about a just transition, this is not about being nice. This is about not losing our citizens, not losing the majority of our citizens. Just transition is the only way to succeed. Thank you. Thank you so much. Now the floor goes to a member of Young Elected Politicians Programme, and my compatriota, Bruna Queiroch-Carneiro. Good morning, everyone. I will speak in my mother language, and I appreciate your comprehension. A way to mitigate climate change in several countries would be with the implementation of sustainable tourism. Thus, we would promote regions and position our regions as sustainable communities. I believe that we can promote and recognize the territories that support sustainable tourism, ensuring that the moments of leisure, generally characterized by greater environmental costs for the planet, the fruit of less serious behaviors, are also able to contribute to climate change. Thank you. Thank you very much. Now the floor goes to our member, Chauvet, for two minutes. Thank you, Mr President, and what a good idea to have invited young elected officials to our debate, because as Rafał Traszkowski said earlier, this is not the next generation's fight, but it is clearly the fight of our generation, the fight against climate warming. I would like to salute what has been said by the member of the European Parliament who was there earlier, and it is necessary for this COP 27, to which we will obviously participate with a strong ambition, that the whole of the European institutions and the elected officials who will be there form a real pact around the Commission, with the Parliament and with the Committee of the Regions, as this has begun to do to Glasgow, so that we can take from one voice the voice of our European bloc. And we as representatives of the Committee of the Regions, of course, we must go back to the institutions and international negotiations, our concerns, but we also have to go back to our citizens, and if there was a message I wanted to send to my colleagues, it is not to be afraid to say when you enter your constructions, that the European Union is the world's most ambitious bloc and the most serious on the climate, the most ambitious because we will take this ambition and the most serious because we will immediately transcribe it in our internal law, and it is in particular the FIFT 455 package that will have been mentioned earlier. So I would be less optimistic, nevertheless, on being able to reach it, to see it, because we are already almost in 2023, the objectives are on 2030, and a certain number of municipalities are not large cities. I greet the people who want to advance from Tert and from Varsovie, but in smaller municipalities or smaller cities, well, they lack engineering, they lack resources, they lack knowledge, they lack personnel, they lack grey material to be able to advance as quickly, and we know two thirds of the investments to fight climate change or adapt to climate change will be done by regions, and especially rural regions. This is why I would also like to finish by saying that with all the seas, including the african seas, including the african seas of francophony, so that we are both a European pack and a family of seas united by Charmelecheg. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now the floor goes to young elected politicians. Member Pablo Baena, you have the floor for one minute. Thank you very much. This is an adequate planning of the infrastructures that connect our territories and that connect, therefore, to our citizens. Europe, as I wanted to convey to you, should serve its citizens, because that is the way they want to continue building more Europe. Therefore, finding the way to continue developing the well-being of our communities and continuing to involve citizens in building Europe are fundamental objectives that should be focused on the policies that are applied to face climate change. This is the reflection I wanted to share with all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our Member Boca for two minutes. You have the floor, two minutes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now the floor goes to a young elected politician. She's online. Alessandra Gallego Bressan, you have the floor for one minute. Thank you, Mr. President, and good morning, everyone. If I don't preserve the environment, I don't preserve myself. It is precisely taking a cue from what was said by Otega Gassat that politics must take the initiative to propose evolutionary steps in this sense. But what role can we local administrations play so that we can correct past mistakes and develop a soft of environmental protection? One of the objectives must be to preserve and pass on the great legacy that we have inherited in cultural, philosophical, and economic terms, but above all, the naturalistic one. In Italy, for example, the national government that will soon take office will have to play an active and proactive role during the negotiations of the Fit for 55 package with the aim of defending and protecting the interests of the national industrial and production system, balancing it with the global ecosystem. Not only that, but we hope also to be a leading actor in the fight against environmental dumping at the European level through the instrument of lithium products made with materials and methods that are not in line with the environmental standards required of our companies. It appears that in Italy do have a national plan for adaptation to climate change ready since 2017, which however has never been put into operation to date. I therefore start to conclude underlining how already for those from these first references, we can see well defined the way to follow for a local involvement of the universities and professional excellencies who are now at our disposal to update this plan and make it operational as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you, Mr President. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our member Kobo for two minutes. Dear colleagues, we said many times that the transition to climate neutrality we succeed only if everyone takes the ownership of the transition, if citizens' communities feel that their contribution matters. But how is it possible in a war and sanctioned environment maintaining a war instead of peace? In times of high and volatile energy prices, we clearly see the need to move more towards local sources of energy and empower local authorities to close the emission gap. At the moment renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels. We have to take this opportunity to change the system and renew our commitments. But how is this possible when all local governments now have to recalculate their budgets because of the terrible, acute energy cost and instead of improvements restrictions must be introduced in the communal services with technological setbacks? For instance, heating with coal and wood instead of gas in some school institutions or reducing of the city lighting? We would like IPCC 2022 report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability to be reflected in the EU position. But for us local governments, the boundary conditions are extremely poor now. It is important that EU as well as international community supports local green deals and implementation of place-based climate contracts are provided in cooperation with citizens and K-stakeholders. We need direct support to cities. I am proud of my city. PH will be one of the selected hundred participating in EU climate neutral cities by 2030 supported by the EU. But we are also fighting with and we also have dimensional problems. Thank you. Thank you. Now the floor goes to young elected politician Monica Andrazek. You have the floor for one minute. Thank you. My name is Monica Andrazek. I come from a city. I work as a government representative. Our city, from our boundary conditions, is dealing with all problems of agglomeration. The city is dealing with environmental problems because the current government is dealing with environmental issues. It is also important that the related issues are provided with direct support. During these circumstances, we have to deal with the problems of agglomeration. I believe that the present energy crisis and the possibility to change the paradigm are the reasons why I urge the EU organizations to take advantage of the green deal and to make the European climate better. I believe that with the support of local communities, we can reduce climate change's tragic effects. Thank you. Thank you. Now we'll go to member Schatten. You have the floor for two minutes. Marike Schatten. You have the floor for two minutes. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, we are on the way to COP 27 and much is at stake. Previous speakers have emphasized this in many different words. And as delegation of the Committee of the Reasons, we will again emphasize the role of local governments. And we are really pleased by the appointment of Ms. Dijksma as a special envoy because I think that will be helpful for us as well. But Mr. Chairman, what else can we do to include citizens we represent and work together on a more hopeful perspective? Because it is ultimately about a major social and societal transition that we are in the midst in. Citizens and politicians are dealing with climate change, with high inflation, with rising energy prices, and that requires a coherent story. A step-by-step approach with measures that explain why we do them, for whom and what kind of impact they will have. And I want to highlight three topics briefly. Adaptation and mitigation is thinking global and acting local. And many of us are doing that already. And we can do more. We can take more mitigating measures by reducing further global emissions, and that applies in particular to the richer countries with a high footprint. For example, by reducing the demand for energy, adopting food change, and stopping the production of energy-intensive consumer goods with a very short lifespan. Secondly, and that has been mentioned before as well, loss and damage and climate finance. This will be a very important topic at the climate summit. Who pays for the damage used by climate change? This asks for very transparent international cooperation between ourselves and beyond the European Union, based on climate justice and based on efficiency. And thirdly, I think we also require more courageous cooperation, which will help us. From local governments with national governments and vice versa, of course, but also with working with young professionals who are really motivated to work with us and collaboration between different generations. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you. Now the floor goes to young elected politician Clara Elstrom. You have the floor for one minute. Thank you so much for giving me the floor. As has been pointed out today from many cities and regions, the consequence of climate change is sadly already a fact, and we are handling the urgent need for local adaption already. I would also like to raise that many cities and regions already have their own structures for cooperation on climate change between local decision makers, civil societies, authorities and local businesses, all partners contributing within their specific reach. And this is an opportunity to take responsibility beyond our own organizations to strive for a fair and impactful transition of the whole society. So in particular, I would like to emphasize also the importance of including youth in these dialogues, not only because they will be there to experience future consequences of climate change, but also because many of the young people today has grown up with it. So I follow the opinion on the structural inclusion of cities and regions in COP 27 that has been discussed today, and I can only agree on the importance of the local level. Thank you. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our member Josef Frey. You have the floor for one minute. She's going to sit down. The development of metals as a fuel in this application requires wrong judgment. The production of plants for biogas plants and the progress of an intensive animal handling for the acquisition of biogas and biomethane must be excluded from the development. That's why I ask for support for our contracts. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our member Ufukaiya. You have the floor for one minute. Thank you, chairman. I will speak in Dutch and say warm welcome in our committee. Chairman, while my city, Den Bosch, is proud to be prepared for the celebration of its 850-year existence, I am proud of the fact that, as the rain of last July, 50 km west were falling, my city was overflowing and our historical heritage was 2 meters under water. MEP Eikhout is also aware of the world-wide ramps by climate. We have to think globally but act locally and that is why COP 27 has to take care of three things. The EU and national authorities should be the possible maker of the regions, both financially and legally. The climate and energy transition also asks for a change from a central system to a de-central system with room for local diversity of sustainable energy sources. And finally, this transition is also a social transition that can only be eliminated if we take part in our education and labor market. Only then can the agreements that were made in COP 27 be eliminated. Thank you. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our member Barbara Egedus. One minute. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now the floor goes to our member Uwe Konrad for one minute. Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. Dear colleagues, the COP 26 had a participant list of 1,616 pages. More than 10,000 members attended it. Unfortunately, only less than 5% of all participants were local or regional representatives. But even when it comes to the actual meeting who had accessed the members, there were even a lot less mayors than other local representatives that had this access. They were mostly left out. This must finally stop. In this context, I call on the national governments to include local delegates in the national negotiation delegations to the UN FCCC climate summits. I thank the repertoire for supporting my motion on this. The participation of communities should also be given greater consideration at the UN. Thank you. Thank you so much. Now the floor goes to our member Guter Platter, not before pointing out to all members that this seems to be Mr. Platter's last plenary session. After around 14 years with us between being member, alternate member and full member, I would like to thank him for his work in our institution and wish you on behalf of the Committee of the Regions all the best. You have the floor for one minute. This is not always the case and this is a happy occasion for me. In these 36 years I have met all the levels of politics as mayor. Then I was a national council member for six years in the federal government in Austria as defense minister, internal minister and now for 14 years as mayor of Tirol. I just want to make a small remark, because I don't want to keep up with this day. But the decision is that in my opinion, what the climate is about, that we are still massively dealing with the issue of traffic. I have been talking about this for decades, that we are simply overloaded by the transit of heavy traffic, the burden limit for humans, nature and the infrastructure is at far exceeding. And we have reduced emissions in different sectors. Also in traffic we have more emissions than it was in the past. And we have to reduce this transit of heavy traffic. Just a few examples. 71% of the goods are transported to Europe via the fire on the road and 29% on the rail. In Switzerland it is the opposite. 70% of the goods are transported on the rail and 30% on the road because it is much more expensive to transport goods on the road. That is why I don't think that it is necessary to have a shoulder strap here. We will have a huge traffic jam in Tirol if we go south. The roads and bridges have to be sanitized, only one lane remains free, because the infrastructure is also closed. I just wanted to say that I didn't want to be uncomfortable. But I think that this opportunity of heavy traffic in the area of transit has to be urgently applied. And I think that this whole scheme is crucial for these topics, for climate change. We are a Europe of the regions and the regions have the same thing to say. Not only the national states. Thank you very much. Well thank you so much. This concludes our request for the floor. Now we go to final remarks. We will start with Mayor Dexma. You have three minutes. Well, thank you first of all for all your support, actually. I have been listening to you and I think that you stated out very clearly why cities could be the game changer, because they are not only part of the problem if it comes to the pollution, but they are definitely part of the solution. And I think that we could perfectly make that clear, that if you need to put your money where your mouth is, so to say, that you need the cities and the regions. And the idea of for instance having local authorities within the national delegations towards COP with Mr. Conrad was stating, is I think a great idea. And also I think that we should emphasize on the fact that within the national determined contributions that what for instance the cities are delivering, must be much more inside and it needs to be taken account upon. So that is I think something which we can also ask our national governments. And finally what I would like to say is that, especially Mrs. Tutto, I hope you, I pronounce it well, and some other delegates here stated the importance of having a social and just transition. And I think that as a mayor I can see that I have this silent majority within my city and many people support the climate policy because they understand that it is necessary, but it is also a burden to them because you are fully right. We ask a lot of our citizens and especially a lot that they cannot do anymore or they should change their behavior. And I think that we can only have real support, public support, if we would benefit those people who are the most vulnerable, the first from this transition. And that's not going to be easy actually. This is something you need to really interfere because if you are not interfering in this transition with a social agenda, then we all know who would benefit the most. And that will be the people who already benefit the most in this world as it is. So I would emphasize on the fact that many mayors also within the ECLI community state that this social and just transition is something which is really necessary. Thank you very much for your support. So please all support our call to action. I have two of my co-workers here with me and you can tell them that you would support. And then we take you on the list. So thank you very much. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us and to share your views. It has been a real honor and pleasure. Now the floor goes to our member Rafał Traskowski for three minutes. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you very much for all your contributions. And I think that the scope of the debate proves that the local and regional governments have quite a lot to contribute in the debates that we are going to have at COP and influence the debate and explain to the member states where at the end of the day are going to take the decisions that there is no time to waste and that even though we are in crisis and even though we now need to concentrate on the people, on energy poverty, on the prices of energy, we need also to realize our ambitions and that we have to do the two things simultaneously. And I think that also this debate has proved beyond any doubt that we are really good at creating platforms in which all of the important voices from the local and regional authorities are being heard. And the Committee of the Regions is a focal point where such a debate can be held. And of course, we are active within the United Nations. I wanted to thank our colleagues who are in contact with other cities in the world. Many of us are members of other networks such as C40, which is meeting. Many mayors are meeting next week in Buenos Aires. We should use all of those platforms in order to send the clear message that we have the contribution to make that at the end of the day we are responsible for implementing these measures. And I wanted also to thank our young politicians from yet because this is immensely crucial that their voices being heard as well. And I think that now we need to concentrate on the most important priorities. We need to keep on pushing the Council and the European Council to acknowledge our role because at the end of the day we are fighting exactly for the same cause. And at the end of the day we cannot simply turn a blind eye to what is happening. So yet again, we are aware of the crisis and multiple crises because we are on the frontline all the time, even though sometimes the prerogatives are not ours and it's not us who are responsible for the pandemics, the local levels, yet we were doing it. It is not us who are responsible for migration policy, yet we are helping the refugees. It is not us who are responsible for the energy crisis, yet we are at the forefront. That's why our voice has to be heard because at the same time we are helping the people, we hear the voice, but we are not going to diminish our ambitions. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Rafael, for your contribution. Thank you very much, President. I would like to thank you. Now the floor goes to our guest, Safiani. I think he's online. If you would like to have a final remarks, you have the floor for three minutes. It seems, it seems, nope. Now we'll go to the rapporteurs to final remarks. We'll start with the rapporteur, our member, Alison Gilliland, for three minutes. Thank you very much, President. I actually won't take three minutes. I think we are all very much on the same page. We all want to be involved. We are doing the work, but we want the recognition. So to add to Mayor Dimsky's call to action, I would ask all you, my colleagues, our core members in a call to action to contact your national delegations, your European Parliament's members ahead of COP, but most importantly ahead of the European Parliament's resolution at the end of this month, and ensure that there is an explicit reference to the role of cities and regions to direct financing and support for us and for our voice at that table. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Now the floor goes to the rapporteur Chelskowski. You have the floor for three minutes. Ladies and gentlemen, very good debate. I always repeat it on the local, regional, but also here on the Committee of Regions, that we as regions, as cities, have to speed up. And I agree here with all opinions that these competencies, regional, local, should be bigger, because the government always gives changes and always gives advice in many areas. That's why all these climate changes, especially in such a region as mine, that is my country, which is heavily urbanized, heavily industrial, are one of the biggest impacts of regional regions in Europe. They require dynamic changes. I am very happy that the whole of Europe the government speaks with one voice. Thank you very much for all your attention, but we also have to look at all the changes of the system, the degree of development of the individual regions, their economic capabilities, the possibility of maintaining the competitiveness of the economy. That's why all of our opinions must be balanced, which will at the same time show the balance of chances in all these changes. It is known that Poland or Central-East Europe comes to these changes more difficult than the system that it ruled many, many years ago. And unfortunately, these sins from the past and today are a burden, but I deeply believe that if we work hard and work well, this debate and our opinion and the COP that will be in Egypt will lead to very good and dynamic changes. Thank you very much. Thank you. And now to conclude the remarks, final remarks. I give the floor to our member, Geblevich. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I would start with a confession that during my first intervention, unfortunately I made unforgettable mistake because I forgot to thank to thank my reporter, Sylvia Wyskavka. Thank you very much. I would like to thank my all CVEX friends for their trust, all CVEX and EPP staff for a very brilliant cooperation when preparing my opinion. I think that after this discussion we are all aware that meeting our climate goals, it is not only multi-level but also multidisciplinary task. And we see on how many areas we have to work and we have to cooperate together. So my opinion is about this social dimension which Cattituto mentioned. We have to convince our people. We have to have them on our common board. But what is even more difficult in my opinion it is to convince the people outside of Europe when the level of awareness is not so high. So that's why we have to cooperate very closely with our neighboring towns, cities, villages in our neighboring countries. And it is also very, very important to convince them and to exert from the bottom once again I would like to repeat the pressure on the government in the neighboring countries. After this discussion we see that we have a lot to do as a committee of regions and we have to create a sea that we manage to create a good team spirit and we can cooperate between the different committees to achieve our climate goals. So let's do all together let's strengthen a committee of regions and make it visible during upcoming COP 27. Thank you very much. Thank you. Now we are going to vote. I would like to ask Vice President Robby B