March 31, 2020 / By mobanmarket
European cities must become low-carbon if the EU is to meet its emissions-reduction targets.Let a thousand cities bloom
European cites have been the cradle of democracy (Athens), finance (Genoa) commerce (Hamburg, Bremen) and urban planning (Paris, London). But the dream of today’s urban planners is that the city will become the nucleus of the low-carbon society.
The European Union has declared its intention to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020 and 90% by the middle of the century (compared to 1990). Such a reduction would entail taking fossil fuels out of power generation and transport systems. The scale of this task is so huge that the details are still on the European Commission’s legislative drawing-board.
The big targets and the big ideas may have been created and agreed in Brussels, but they will become reality only if all of Europe’s cities take them to heart. Europe is the world’s great urban continent: three-quarters of the population live in urban areas, a number that is expected to increase to 80% by 2020, according to the European Environment Agency.
Cities consume 70% of the EU’s power supply and are case-studies for environmental problems (congestion, air quality, noise and power wastage), just as they are for the solutions (greener transport, smarter power supply and use).
The past two decades have seen a flowering of city groups and of charters aimed at promoting the green development of cities and tackling climate change. The Climate Alliance, created in 1990, aims to reduce the carbon footprint of 1,500 cities and municipalities and avoid activities that damage tropical rainforests.
More recently, town halls have flocked to join the Covenant of Mayors, a group that has pledged climate and energy targets that go beyond the EU’s 2020 targets. Since the group was formed barely one year ago, around 1,200 mayors have signed up. As signatories, they are committed to producing a climate action plan and regular reports on their progress; failure to do so means they get kicked out of the group.
The EU institutions have to tread a fine line between supporting such initiatives and contravening the principle of ‘subsidiarity’ – that decisions should be taken at the lowest level consistent with effective action.
European cities may face common environmental problems, but they come from very different geographical and political starting points. Austria, Germany and the Nordic countries have always had strong traditions of city government. But in the last two decades, even centralised states such as France, Spain and the UK have seen power flow from the central government down to regions and cities. Changes have been most dramatic in central and eastern Europe, where the reaction against centralised communist rule has led to the creation of strong local government.
Local authorities in the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Baltic states control one-fifth of government expenditure. The Nordic countries also control a healthy share of their government expenditure, a state of affairs that their southern colleagues must envy: local authorities in Greece, Malta and Cyprus get 5% of government expenditure – the lowest in the EU.
In 2006, when the European Commission came up with its urban environment strategy, it decided against proposing EU laws. Instead, the Commission defines the EU’s role as helping cities share good ideas, providing data, guidelines and cash. In 2007-13, €21.1 billion in EU regional funds is earmarked for urban development projects, such as transport, regeneration and clearing contaminated land. Other money is available from regional funds dedicated to energy and environment (though they are not exclusively reserved for cities).
But city leaders would like to see more dedicated sources of funding. Some hoped that the Covenant of Mayors would prompt the EU to come up with a new financial mechanism. That has not happened yet.
Eurocities, a group representing more than 130 big cities in 30 countries, is working on proposals that would allow cities to apply for funds raised under the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS). In a recently published declaration on climate change, the group argues that funding for local authorities, especially for public transport, needs to be a much higher priority. Some hopes have been raised by a new €15 million fund from the European Investment Bank and Commission (see box) aimed at supporting big energy projects (known as the European Local Assistance fund, Elena).
Aside from funds, the EU runs numerous projects to test different technologies and policies. A 2007 survey by Eurocities found that around half of cities polled (24 out of 53) were currently involved in EU projects on energy efficiency. It follows that many cities are not involved in EU projects – but that should not worry the Commission. Cities have their own networks. Ultimately the EU’s most important role may be setting legal standards.
Wendelin Friedel, an official who works for the deputy mayor of Frankfurt, cites EU standards on heating insulation as one example of how the EU helps cities “in their struggle against climate change”. But standards are a double-edged sword. Less-ambitious laws can also make life difficult for the cities, Friedel suggests. For instance, he would have preferred new exhaust standards for vans and buses (Euro VI) to have come into force earlier than the current 2014 target date. This would have helped cities meet EU laws on air quality that prescribe strict limit values on fine particles and nitrogen dioxide. When it comes to meeting air-quality standards, he says, “cities struggle with not much assistance from national government or the EU”.
But overall, Friedel thinks that the EU brings a helpful dimension. “National governments have nationwide interests and sometimes they forget to reflect the needs of their cities,” he says. In the complicated, overlapping world of local, regional, national and European law-making, the EU can sometimes be the ally of the city planners in their battles with a reluctant central government.
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