• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
    • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • AER stands with Ukraine
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
    • AER Observatory on Regionalisation
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / News / Rio+20 : where States fail, Regions step forward

Rio+20 : where States fail, Regions step forward

22 June, 2012 By Mathieu Mori

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Share this!

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 22 June 2012

“We must recognize that the states and international organizations have once again missed an opportunity to ensure a sustainable future for our planet. But despite this failure, we, the regions and federated states, continue to forge ahead in Rio,” stated Michèle Sabban, President of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) and of R20.

“We will continue to repeat this until everyone understands: the regions play an essential role in the battle against climate change, because it is their job to implement between 50 and 80% of all adaptation and mitigation measures. It is certainly worth celebrating the fact that some people understand this, particularly within certain European institutions. But we must still convince numerous international governments and organizations of the necessity of taking urgent action! I call now upon every region and federated state to take up the sword and shield and act with the states of Europe and the world as our witness, to prove once and for all that a green future is possible,” concluded Mrs. Sabban before a panel of sub-national political decision-makers.

The Assembly of European Regions is now encouraging its 250-plus members to sign the Rio+20 Declaration of the Regions. This declaration is just as ambitious – it establishes, in particular, commitment to reduce GHG emissions up to 30% – as it is progressive, since it recognizes the diversity of the regions of Europe and allows them to sign up for various commitments depending on their level of development. The President of the AER will then deliver the declaration to the COP 18 (from November 26 to December 7, 2012 in Qatar), which will be essentially dedicated to sustainable development.

The Assembly of European Regions (AER – aer.eu) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 250 regions from 35 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.

For more information: [email protected]

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Filed Under: News, Vice-Presidency for International cooperation Tagged With: Climate change, R20, Regions4GreenGrowth, Sustainable development

← Taking stock of e-health deployment in the regions “Houston, we have a problem? Norrbotten, we’ve got a solution!” AER President pleads for the German consulate to remain in Strasbourg →

More articles on this topic

AER President takes part in panel discussion at the R20 Austrian World Summit
AER to attend the R20 Austrian World Summit in Vienna
Committee 1 Annual Report June 2018 – May 2019
New financial and networking opportunities for environment: LIFE Calls!
Jam-packed EU Regions & Cities Summit in Bucharest

AER. Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985.

Follow our newsletter!




View previous campaigns.


  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in