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Committee 1 Annual Report June 2018 – May 2019

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The General Assembly is the highest authority of AER and convenes representatives of all its full members at least once a year. The General Assembly adopts among other things, the annual reports of the Thematic Committees.

This report is the compilation of actions developped and implemented within Committee 1 between the 2018 General Assembly in Lillehammer, Oppland (NO) and the 2019 General in Larnaka (CY).

Activities are organised in 3 categories:

  • Projects
  • Good practice sharing
  • Advocacy/ Lobbying

The AER Action plan, which brings together all the activities carried out within AER, is constantly updated.

Projects

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project: ongoing

This project is funded by DG REGIO. It will:

  • raise awareness on the importance of programmes, projects and services funded by Cohesion Policy funds
  • encourage the participation of citizens and stakeholders to ensure they are active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy.

The project officially started on 1st of April 2019 and will last for 12 months. The following regions, which have sent a letter of support for this project will be involved in different actions funded by the project to engage citizens and communicate about Cohesion Policy in their territories:
Trento (IT), Alba (RO), Timis (RO), Catalonia (ES), Varazdin (HR) and potentially Csongrad (HU).
All AER members are invited to share examples of communication campaigns on Cohesion Policy and to participate in the launching event of the project on 5 June 2019 in Larnaka on the occasion of the AER General Assembly.

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): finished

The Silver Economy Awards aimed to catalyse a sustainable European digital Silver Economy movement by promoting and rewarding innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for over 50s. The Awards were an opportunity to raise awareness around the lesser-known notion of the Silver Economy. They illustrate the breadth of the consumer markets and the public spending involved and the size of the opportunities available for entrepreneurs, investors, public authorities and civil society. Last year the Silver Economy Awards replaced the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels. SEED was a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018

ARLEM project – Capacity building for an integrated and sustainable urban development: canceled

This is a joint project of the Committee of the Regions regional and local authorities focused on the Mediterranean. In this context, AER answered to the call of ARLEM – Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly in order to provide technical expertise and political support. AER expressed its interest to focus piloting actions in Turkey, Tunisia, and Morocco. This project aims to reinforce the capacities of local and regional authorities from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean both in terms of urban management and integrated urban development. AER will contribute in the capacity building activities as well as the organisation of regional conferences. It is funded by the Finnish Development Agency and activities are planned for 2 years and six months.

REFIT Project – New regulative frameworks to foster innovation in the transport sector: not accepted

The REFIT project, under the Horizon 2020 Programme, will improve the regulatory framework to make it consistent with the development of new forms of mobility, including shared used mobility, having in mind to safeguard the interest of the users and to attend societal goals. The main result will be the creation of a user-friendly governance tool facilitating regulatory processes to support the deployment of innovative transport technologies and services in the EU.

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions: finished

The event on EU funding for Croatian regions, hosted by Varaždin (HR) and Committee 3 President Radimir Čačić, and the event on EU funding for Albanian regions, hosted by Korcë (AL) and MEG member Ana Verushi brought together about 70 participants, both members and non members of AER to:
-hear about AER’s activities
-learn more on AER services for projects and services
-obtain information on the areas of cooperation with EU
-get a relevant update on the current and forthcoming EU funding opportunities
-become aware of the successful experiences of project applicants

Good Practice Sharing

Breakfast seminar “The Sustainable Development Goals and regional growth – Is it possible?” finished

On 15 May 2019, AER and Oppland (NO) co-organised a seminar entitled “The Sustainable Development Goals and regional growth – Is it possible?“ in Brussels on integrated regional policymaking with the OECD and regional examples.

The Sustainable Development Goals as a policy framework: ongoing

  1. The Working Group on Energy and Climate Change organised a workshop on using the Sustainable Development Goals as a policy framework on September 26th in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS). Many regions are very active in this space. Oppland (NO), Värmland (SE) and the UNDP in Belgrade provided case studies.
  2. On the occasion of the Joint Plenary session in Örebro (SE), the the role of regions with respect to the Sustainable Development Goals were discussed by Ida Texell, Member of the Swedish delegation Agenda 2030
  3. The Working Group on Energy and Climate Change organised a workshop on ambitious regional planning with views to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals on March 27th in Örebro (SE)

Using the SDGs to communicate AER activities: ongoing

Oppland suggested that as many of the AER activities are contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, AER should promote the 2030 Agenda, raising visibility of how AER and its member regions are contributing to reach goals. AER is further developing its collaboration with UCLG and other networks and organisations around this topic and will organise a major event on this topic in 2020 in Grand Est (FR)

Supporting members to use the TAIEX-Environmental Implementation Review: ongoing

  • The AER Secretariat disseminated information about the TAIEX-EIR peer to peer learning programme and supporting members to use this programme to gain or provide knowledge on environmental policies on topics as diverse as air quality, waste management, water management, the circular economy. This programme which is relatively easy and quick to access is a good complement to activities carried out within AER and an opportunity to access support from the Commission to carry out exchanges with other regions.
  • The TAIEX-EIR programme was presented at the Autumn plenaries in the workshop of the AER Working group on rural development.
  • The AER Project Unit will also organise a webinar in May or June 2019 to help members use the programme.
  • The region of Gelderland is organising a TAIEX-EIR workshop on ecosystem services, which is open (and financed by the European Commission) on 4 – 5 July 2019

Workshop on Life Cycle Approaches to Regional Sustainable Development: finished

Following the September 2017 workshop on life cycle approaches for renewable energy, circular economy and regional development, members of the working group on energy and climate change were invited to participate in a workshop in Bordeaux, France in 4 and 5 March 2019.
This workshop was intended as a consultative forum to gather advice, experience and further case studies to facilitate this move. It will help to develop an outreach programme on Life Cycle approaches to sustainable regional development.

Study visit on the energy transition: finished

The main focus of the study visit, was the bottom-up approach for the energy transition, which was implemented in the region. This multi-stakeholder cooperation was materialised by the Gelders’ Energy agreement (GEA). The shared goal is to make the province energy-neutral by 2050. Local and regional industries, governments and NGOs’ in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, have pledged for the province to become energy-neutral by 2050. It facilitates a co-creative process where initiatives, actors, and energy are integrated into society. Participants shared good practice and experience, and in particular:

-observed Gelders’ Energy agreement working process
-met with Gelders’ Energy agreement regional partners
-carried out visits to observe regional results
-participated in a serious game on energy and the diverging interests of stakeholders to exchange about challenges.

Open data and blockchain in transports, Working group meeting: finished

The AER working group on Transports and Mobility, which is chaired by Martin Tollén, member of the Transport and Urban Planning Committee of Östergötland (SE), met on 28 March 2019, on the occasion of the Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro.
Members discussed the following topics:

New mobility services: ongoing

Good practice exchange on electric cars (production of batteries) and infrastructure. Participation of the working group in the REFIT H2020 project on policies to support New Mobility Services. Exchnages around the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities.

Seminar “Food for thought action”: finished

AER organised a seminar on the topic of food and innovation on the occasion of the Örebro Spring Plenaries on 27 March 2019. Speakers shared examples from the regions and showed how central food and innovation is to regional development.

Food: short supply chains & quality food: ongoing

The Working Group on rural development organised a side event on the occasion of Smart City Expo World Congress on the topic of food. Findings of this side event aim to feed the work of the Bureau Task Force on food.

Study visit on food production: canceled

The idea was to focus the study visit on the approach to food production in order to see how microfirm became large company, which was implemented in the Norrbotten region. The initiative could potentially have been linked with the TAIEX EIR peer learning opportunity of the European Commission. This idea was not implemented.

Youth entrepeneurship: ongoing

Members expressed the wish to develop youth entrepreneurship actions in link with Committee 3. EMAX, a Swedish organisation, which organises innovation camps presented their work on the occasion of the Autumn Committee 3 plenary meeting. They also organise a Breakfast Debate on youth entrepreneurship on the occasion of the Spring 2019 plenary meetings in Örebro (SE).

International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions: finished

The three AER committees and the AER Task Force on Migration worked closely together to develop messaging ahead of the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions event in Barcelona on Tuesday 18 December 2018.
Participants shared their experiences and good practices in diversity management at regional level, including examples of policies, programmes and was implemented inclusion, participation in civic, economic and political life, positive intercultural interaction and the sense of belonging.

Meeting of the Working Group for Equal Opportunities: finished

The AER Group on Equal opportunities has regular phone meetings and met as well in Novi Sad to discuss the development of a Code of Conduct for AER.

Spring Plenary meeting Committee for Economy and Regional Development: finished

Committee 1 gathered on the occasion of the Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro (SE) to assess progress, define their 2019-2020 work programme and elect new representatives. The results of the elections are the following:

  • Committee President: Kenneth Backgård, Norrbotten (SE)
  • Vice-President for Economic Development and Mobility: Michiel Scheffer, Gelderland (NL)
  • Chair of the Working Group on Investment, Business & SMEs: Maricel Popa, Iași (RO)

Autumn Plenary meeting Committee for Economy and Regional Development: finished

The 2018 Autumn Committee Plenaries were hosted by Vojvodina in Serbia from 25 – 27 September 2018. A detailed recap of all the meetings that took place is available here. The Committee on Economy and Regional Development members decided that the Task Force on Cohesion Policy, which for historic reasons was under the responsibility of this Committee, should be transferred to the Bureau for coherence purposes, as it is the Bureau which is in charge of the identification of policy messages and advocacy activities.

Sustainable Urban Mobility, Working group meeting: finished

The Working Group on Transports and Mobility decided in Spring 2018 to work on sustainable urban mobility. At the Autumn Committees Plenary meetings, Miroslav Tadic, UNDP Climate Change Portfolio Manager shared the experience of UNDP in Serbia.

Waste management in rural areas, Working Group on Rural development meeting: finished

The Working Group on rural development organised a workshop on waste management in rural areas on September 27th in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS). Svetlana Marusic presented the situation in Vojvodina (RS) and Olimpia Neagoe, Chair of the Working Group, presented a project which is being implemented in Dolj (RO) and which is substantially supported by EU funding. Sustainable Waste Management involves both considerable investments in infrastructure and a lot of work on behavioural changes.

Webinar on New Mobilities: canceled

The Working Group on Transports & Mobility will organise a webinar on New Mobilities for all AER members. Date & topic tbc.

International event on Biomass: canceled

Organisation of an international event on Biomass in Vojvodina (RS) in collaboration with AER members. It was replaced by an International Business Summit on the occasion of the 2018 Autumn Committee plenaries in Vojvodina.

International Business Summit: finished

The Regional Business Forum co-organised by AER and Vojvodina gathered in one place Regional chambers of commerce and Regional agencies in charge of investments, support for SME and promotion of business and commerce from wider Europe. It wass an opportunity for regions to promote their business potentials and achievements through both dialogue and bilateral meetings. The programme included a one-day conference, a high-level panel debate on Open Data for startups together with all the policymakers from AER member regions, B2B meetings and different study visits.

Panel discussion on Open data for regional development: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, the panel discussion “Open data for regional development: governance, start-ups and innovation” took place.

The discussion focused on how public institutions collect and generate enormous quantities of data in areas as varied as unemployment, air pollution, hospital consultations etc and how this data can best be re-used to create or improve both public and private services. There is a need to change the political perception of Open Data and instead view it as opportunity for policy-making.

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy: finished

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital organised a mutual learning event on the sharing Economy together with Catalonia, in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region (BE). This event organised upon the invitation of Committee 1 President Jean Luc Vanraes, aimed to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions were welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

The event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the third sector for vivid exchanges. A follow up article with updates on what happened in Brussels was published.

Explore collaboration opportunities on European certification initiative for SMEs

An innovative European certification initiative for regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could represent leverage for growth and improved cross-border economic relations.

It is in this context that Mr Vanraes, met with with a delegation from CAC en mouvement. CAC en mouvement is a think tank representing around 70% of the French statutory auditors. It has initiated a deep reflexion on how to modernise the profession to make it more useful to local businesses in France and around Europe. One possibility which was mentioned during the meeting was to potentially invite CAC en mouvement to present its European platform of certified regional SMEs to the Committee for Economy and Regional development during its autumn working session. The ultimate goal is to develop synergies with the interested in the project. This will be further discussed with the new Committee 1 Presidium after the AER General Assembly in Larnaka.

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC: ongoing

The AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility is involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities. It shares regular updates on the work of the EIP-SCC with members

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Members agreed in September 2018 that the Task Force on Cohesion will now be under the responsibility of the Bureau, which is also in charge of the other Task Forces. Joint actions include:
– Convene joint advocacy: Bureau Members adopted an updated position on the European Commission legislative proposals for the future EU cohesion policy, setting out the specific changes European regions propose to make to the new framework.
– Advocate towards the European Union and Member States
– Work in alliance with other relevant stakeholders and European associations
Flevoland (NL) is coordinating the implementation of the action and the cohesion policy task force help implement the action.

Financing climate action: ongoing

AER works alongside R20, Blue Orchard and Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation to set up a 350 million $ Subnational Climate Fund to finance climate projects in European regions. In August AER met the European Investment Bank to pursue negotiations.

AER was present at this year’s UN climate meeting, which took place in Katowice, Poland. The highlight of AER’s involvement was when AER President Magnus Berntsson spoke at the high-level segment 12 December on behalf of all the regions and municipalities of the world.

AER at the OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs: finished

Eva Hallström from Värmland, chairing the AER working group on energy and climate change, represented AER while speaking at the 1st OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs, which took place at the OECD Headquarters in Paris.

The Roundtable brought together cities, regions, national governments, international organisations, private sector and other key stakeholders to identify trends and challenges in the localisation of the SDGs, including the experiences and key findings from the pilots of the programme “A Territorial Approach to the SDGs”.

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions. The AER Secretariat will also organise Breakfast Briefings to help regions organise their advocacy activities.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Vania Freitas

  • Task Force on Food
  • Task force on Digitalisation
  • Task Force on Migration
  • Task Force on Social Innovation
  • Task Force on Cohesion

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The development of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committees‘ work programmes. The work programmes are developed in Spring each year.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the AER Action Plan

Committee 1 Coordination & implementation of the work programme

The new Presidium of the AER Committee on Economy and Regional Development met on 3 May 2019 in Brussels, to discuss the implementation of the Committee’s work programme for 2019-2020. They agreed on a series of actions to support the actions proposed by members on the occasion of the Spring Plenaries. This work is coordinated by Per Erik Andersson, the seconded officer supporting Committee 1 President Kenneth Backgård, Norrbotten (SE).

Photo by Christian Fregnan on Unsplash

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Regions take holistic and wholehearted approach to SDGs

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On the morning of 15 May 2019, AER and Oppland (NO) co-organised a Breakfast Seminar entitled “The Sustainable Development Goals and regional growth – Is it possible?“, which took place at Oslo Region European Office in Brussels

The sustainable development goals (SGD) call upon governments, businesses and civil society to come together and work towards a sustainable planet, leaving no one behind. Many, if not all regions, are working towards this in one form or another.

The discussion, moderated by Turid Wulff Knutssen from Oppland County, featured input from Oppland County, (NO), Region Värmland (SE), Flanders (BE) and the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities.

After some warm words of welcome by Even A. Hagen, County Mayor, Oppland, the discussion turned to the subject of how to build a new region in the light of Sustainable Development Goals? Erik Lagethon, Advisor on Regional Development for Oppland County Authority shared his views on how the SDGs can be framework or roadmap for regional planning and the upcoming merger of the Oppland and Hedmark regions in Norway.

Stina Heikkila, Consultant on Territorial Approaches for the SDGs at the OECD, spoke about the OECD’s work on a Territorial Approach to the Sustainable Development Goals.

AER Working Group on Climate Change and Energy Chairperson, Eva Hallström, took the floor to present her view on “Implementing SDGs in regional planning – more than words?” and to give examples from her region, Värmland (SE) before being joined by Ine Baetens, Expert on Sustainable Development for Flanders (BE), who presented “Vision 2050: a long-term strategy for Flanders” linked to the SDGs.

Is the question really Growth vs Sustainability?

Many of the speakers highlighted that the paradigm needn’t be so black and white. Regions, national governments and international organisations are looking beyond economic growth alone for indicators for progress. Social and environmental factors, as well as happiness indices, can also be used as measures that we are moving in the right direction.

How best should regions approach the SDGs?

Whether undergoing regional restructuring or simply reflecting on how to move forward on the Global Goals the consensus was that regions need to anchor the #SDGs in an interdisciplinary way, taking a whole of government approach, involving all stakeholders and avoiding that the Goals are siloed into the work of the regional department for the environment, for example.

Additionally, when looking at the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, regions need to go ‘all-in’ rather than focusing on one or two goals that suit their current work plans or are likely to lead to successful outcomes.
An integrated approach is fundamental to ensuring progress made has the widest possible impact. As such, comprehensive implementation is therefore essential to ensuring success.

Emphasis needs to be placed on including reporting and evaluation into a regional SDG strategy to avoid ‘greenwashing’.

It may be demanding & time-consuming to implement SDG’s into regional planning but the consensus at this widely-attended event was that the effort is undoubtedly worthwhile.

What can be done? And where do we start?

This event jointly organised by AER and Oppland County is a direct result of the 2019 AER Committee Plenaries in Örebro, Sweden, where sharing best practices and knowledge exchange takes centre stage.

In this spirit, the breakfast seminar afforded the regions present to exchange on concrete actions they have undertaken to inspire others to do the same.

One such example is the Oppland County Bioeconomy Strategy and the integrated approach taken in this work. In a similar vein, Värmland County Council shared its experience as Swedens most sustainable County Council. Citing the award it received for Europe’s first LEED Healthcare Gold-certified hospital, Värmland showed how its active efforts for a sustainable environment have yielded positive results.

The Flanders region in Belgium also shared its experience of how it has grown to change the way we perceive what it means to evolve in the right direction. The wide-ranged efforts untaken have covered everything from Blue Growth (moving from subsidising fossil fuels to subsidising waste removal from the seas) through to Industry 4.0 & the circular and sharing economies.

  • Erik Lagethon, Oppland County
  • Stina Heikkilä, OECD
  • Ine Baetens, Flanders
  • Eva Hallström, Region Värmland
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AER meets Commissioner for Environment

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AER President Magnus Berntsson and Secretary General Mathieu Mori met on 10th April 2019 with Karmenu Vella, EU commissioner for environment, maritime affairs and fisheries.

This meeting followed the publication of the second Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) package. This review is a tool to improve implementation of EU environmental law and policy. It aims to address the causes of implementation gaps and try to find solutions before problems become urgent.  

An agreement was found on the need for these reviews to have a better regional approach at a time when localising SDGs are a key concern for all local and regional leaders. Further meetings to discuss this point will take place.

This meeting was also an opportunity to exchange on how best to reach out to regions when it comes to environmental policies and opportunities for regions.

For that purpose, please see the following articles on environmental initiatives :

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New financial and networking opportunities for environment: LIFE Calls!

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AER has a long tradition of knowledge sharing and initiatives on “green” topics. As President of AER, Mr Magnus Berntsson, is also President of R20 – Regions for Climate Action. In order to promote an integrated approach on this matter, AER regularly attended the UN climate Conference of Parties (COP), shared the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and organised ad-hoc activities for members as the study visits in the Province of Gelderland (NL) on energy transition and climate change.

In terms of EU funding and projects, we would like to share with you the opportunities now available for 2019 within the LIFE Programme, the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate actions.

LIFE Programme & Calls

The EU LIFE Programme provides funding opportunities for the support of Environment, Nature Conservation and Climate Action projects throughout the EU.

LIFE calls for 2019 are now open and planned as follows:

1.Environment sub-programme

  • Environment and resource efficiency traditional projects – deadline concept note 17 June 2019
  • Nature and biodiversity traditional projects – deadline concept note 19 June 2019
  • Environmental governance and information traditional projects – deadline concept note 19 June 2019
  • Integrated projects – deadline concept note 5 September 2019
  • Technical assistance projects – deadline 12 June 2019
  • Preparatory projects – date to be announced

2.Climate action sub-programme

  • Climate change mitigation traditional projects ​​​​​- deadline full proposal 12 September 2019
  • Climate change adaptation traditional projects​ – deadline full proposal 12 September 2019
  • Climate governance and information traditional projects – deadline full proposal 12 September 2019
  • Integrated projects – deadline concept note 5 September 2019
  • Technical assistance projects – deadline 12 June 2019

3.Operating grants for NGOs

  • Operating grants to support non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in view of concluding framework partnership agreements (FPAs) and specific grant agreements (SGAs) – deadline 3 June 2019

LIFE calls are opened to…anyone!

  • Public body operating under a national government’s authority, e.g. local authority, national administration etc.
  • Private commercial organisation
  • Private non-commercial organisation (NGOs etc.)

In contrast to other funding programmes LIFE projects are very flexible in terms of how they are set up. You can run a project on your own as well as with partners from your own or another country.

Anyone registered in the EU can make a proposal for LIFE traditional, integrated, preparatory, and technical assistance projects under the sub-programmes for environment and climate action. Specific conditions apply only to capacity building projects.

LIFE Information & Networking Day

The European Commission is organising an Information & Networking Day on the 2019 LIFE call for project proposals that will take place in Brussels on 30th of April. With this occasion you will be able to acknowledge the significant changes of the programme compared to previous years, you will have the chance to meet the representatives of the LIFE Programme from the European Commission and get to know potential partners for your project.

Therefore, don’t miss this opportunity and join it! The registration is open until 25th of April 2019, so no time to wait! In case you cannot come to Brussels, you can watch the event by streaming.

Useful tips!

  • In each EU country there is a national and sometimes several regional contact points to help you with your application
  • The Research and Innovation Participant Portal allows you to find partners for your project ideas among the organisations registered in the portal Beneficiary Register.

The AER Secretariat is also eager to connect our member regions and partners ready to apply for this Programme.

We advise you to read carefully all relevant documentation listed by the EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) before applying.

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European Projects

Agnese Pantaloni

Phone: +32 2 400 10 52 E-mail: a.pantaloni(at)aer.eu Skype ID: agnesepanta Languages: it, en, pt Articles by Agnese
  • EU funding
  • Calls for projects and tenders
  • Partner search

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The Committees’ 2019-2020 work programme is out!

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On the occasion of the Committees’ plenaries in Örebro, AER members identified the topics which matter most for them and on which they want to develop joint actions on with fellow regions. The development of the work programme was a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committees work programmes.

Committee for Economy & Regional Policy

The planned actions in the AER Committee on Economy and Regional Policy can be summed up as follows:

Innovation & SMEs :

-sharing experiences & mutual learning on simplification of legislation
-exchange of experiences on attraction & retention of workforce
–organisation of a mutual learning event on a current & transversal aspect of innovation & industry in Brussels on 4 december 2019

Rural development

-exchange of experiences on waste management in rural areas
-initiating collective action for the protection of Romanian forests
-develop a project for good practice exchange on farming practices
-sharing experiences on investments & financing of infrastructure in rural areas
-develop a project together with the Committee on Social Policy & Public Health on e-health in rural areas

Energy & climate change

–organisation of a roundtable on how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals in regional planning, during the EU Green Week in Brussels on 15 May 2019
-exchange of good practices on small hydropower plants
-exchange of experience on multistakeholder engagement around the topic of energy, partnerships, and advocacy towards different levels of governance
-sharing good practices around gas exploitation: environmental & economic impact on national tourism strategy on Norway in Sweden in particular
–organisation of workshop at European Week of Cities and Regions in Brussels in October 2019
–organisation of a workshop on energy efficiency
-Breakfast briefing on competition

Transports & mobility

-exchange of good practices and engage a shared reflexion on how to achieve zero emission transports
–organise a workshop during the European Sustainable Development Week in Brussels on clean energy hubs
–organise a side event at Smart City Expo World Congress

Committee for Social Policy& Public Health

The planned actions in the AER Committee for Social Policy & Public Health can be summed up as follows:

Social inclusion

-exchange experiences and identify solutions around the issue of isolated elderly people in rural areas
-share information on the inclusion of children with disabilities in school
-exchange experiences around the care and wellbeing of children whose parents have moved abroad for work (specifically in Romania)
-identify good practices for the support of young orphans who are 18 and are no longer supported by institutions

Health innovation

-compile achievements of the AER e-health network in the past 13 years
-mapping of e-health systems and integrated care in Europe via the Scirocco Exchange project
-develop a project together with the Committee on Economy & Regional Development on e-health in rural areas

Committee for Culture, Education & Youth

The planned actions in the AER Committee on Culture, Education, and Youth can be summed up as follows:

Culture

-mutual learning around culture for all and how to, in particular, reach out to young people
-mutual learning on culture &

Education

-share knowledge, experiences and practices to address the issue of brain drain and move from brain drain to brain gain
-exchange around the issue of governments investing in education and “losing” their qualified workforce and identify elements of resilience or compensation for territories which “lose” qualified workforce
-exchange experiences on lifelong learning for 50+ people in order to improve wellbeing and employability

Youth

-share experiences on early school leaving and the issue of young people who are not in education and not in employment. In particular explore practices around building confidence and encouraging young people.
-Organise a workshop, potentially at the Eurodyssey Forum, on the Eurodyssey programme to increase the number of applicants for the first youth mobility programme in Europe

The AER Action Plan & planning cycle

The AER Committees’ work programmes are developed at the Spring plenaries each year and are then consolidated into the AER Action Plan, which is adopted at the General Assembly.

The AER Action Plan brings together all the activities carried out within and via the AER network, be they large or small, including the Committees’ work programmes. The Action Plan is constantly updated during the year. It is the Executive Board, which approves actions to be added to the AER Action Plan, in order to ensure alignment with values and priorities.

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Food in Focus at Spring Plenaries in Örebro

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The AER Spring Committee Plenaries, which took place from 26-28 March 2019 in Örebro County, Sweden, revolved around food, innovation and health.

The seminar ‘Food for Action!’ A regional approach to innovating food systems, was an exemplary opportunity for regions to share how they innovate food systems to achieve nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets, climate and environmental sustainability, circularity and resource efficiency, and innovation and empowering communities.

Moderated by Tina Wu, Member Relations Coordinator the seminar saw participants engage in a multisensory activity on Sensory research within the field of Gastronomy – a multisensory perspective in order to promote healthy eating” delivered by Åsa Öström, from Örebro. This delightful and delicious experience was followed by inputs on nutrition & mental health by Robert Jan Brummer, another expert from Örebro County. AER members Olimpia Neagoe, Dolj (RO), Peter Medved, Eastern Slovenia (SI), Erik Lagethon, Oppland (NO), Thomas Norrby, from the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD), were among the participants who then shared insights from their regions and networks on the all-encompassing issue of food, nutrition and innovation.

Keeping with the theme of food a Breakfast Debate was organised on youth entrepreneurship, and all participants to the Joint Plenary had the opportunity to join a dinner reception at Örebro Castle where they were greeted by Governor of Örebro, Maria Larsson and President of the Regional Executive Board Andreas Svahn, and treated to a vast menu of local specialities including Hjalmaren Pikeperch.

A number of other successful workshops that took place at the Plenaries included:

  • Energy and Climate Change: the SDGs as a policy framework
  • Transports & Mobility: Open Data & Blockchain
  • The AMID workshop on multilevel cooperation for migration policies
  • Available opportunities for AER members in current projects

As always, the three AER Committees

  • Economy and Regional Development
  • Social Policy and Public Health
  • Culture, Education and Youth

held their dedicated plenary sessions and outlined achievements made over the last six months and spent some quality time reflecting on the work programmes for the upcoming year. More on this to follow!

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#IChooseEurope is on the Road to the Future!

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From 13 to 18 of March, more than 120 young participants from all over Europe gathered in Île de France for the “I Choose Europe” Youth Exchange in the locality of Jambville and the launch of the campaign at “Quartier Général – the Festival of the Engaged Youth in Europe” in Paris. AER not only joined its counterparts of the “Road to the Future” project to support the event organisation but also delivered a workshop on youth employment and mobility in Europe, being these topics very high on the EU agenda in view of the European Elections in May.

European youths together !

The quiet life of the locality of Jambville (FR) was disrupted by +120 temporary inhabitants from different spots in Europe that came together to exchange, in a creative manner, views and insights relating to the European Elections while contributing to the preparation of the campaign “I Choose Europe”. From its opening to its closure, the atmosphere over the course of the 5-day event was visibly marked by a common conviction around the ideal of a more united and stronger Europe.

JEF Europe Secretary General, Milosh Ristovski, addressing the participants

A broad variety of activities took place in Jambville in a convivial environment during the Youth Exchange, ranging from parallel workshops on the future of Europe to intercultural activities to discover the particularities of each national delegation. Furthermore, the participants got actively involved in preparing and presenting Europe-oriented activities for the high-visibility “Quartier Général, le festival des jeunes engagé.e.s en Europe” youth festival for the launching of the #IChooseEurope campaign.

The 5-day programme allowed the participants to understand the goals and methods used in campaigning, familiarising them with various youth engagement tools and, ultimately, developing skills to promote European debate in their own local communities.

Youth Mobility for European Integration

AER programmes coordinator, Andrés Muñoz, contributed to the programme with a workshop entitled “Youth Mobility for European Integration” aimed at reflecting on how youth mobility programs and cross-border and interregional cooperation can alleviate youth unemployment while increasing the sense of European identity and the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.

AER Programmes Coordinator during the workshop sessions

The participants not only discovered the benefits of AER’s Eurodyssey youth mobility programme but also discussed, through a role-play exercise, the opportunities and obstacles to joining Eurodyssey from the perspective of the different mobility stakeholders. Additionally, the participants developed analytical skills by putting the problem/solution tree diagram into practice while simulating the role of policy-makers.

You can download the presentation here!

The #IChooseEurope campaign has taken off!

On Saturday 16, the participants and the Road to the Future crew landed at “Quartier Général – the Festival of the Engaged Youth in Europe”, organised by project partners Animafac, which gathered around 2.000 participants from Europe and all over France for a festive day with an eclectic program imagined for and by engaged youth, including:  a “village of associations”, conferences, debates, workshops, concerts, radio shows…

“I Choose Europe” info-stand

Immediately upon their arrival, the participants set the scene with an info stand and visibility materials of the “I Choose Europe” campaign encouraging the festival attendees to vote in May. Besides flyering, the I Choose Europe campaigners took over several spaces of the festival venue to raise awareness on topics of great concern for young people in view of the European Elections, such as youth turnout in politics, the fight against stigmatization, migration, climate change and many more…

Christopher Glück, JEF President, and some I Choose Europe campaigners

What is more, the peak event of the festival was again led by the “I Choose Europe” campaigners, JEF Europe and the rest of the Road to the Future project partners who performed a flash-mob around the main stage of Quartier Général in order to draw attention to the campaign. Christopher Glück, President of Young European Federalists (JEF), delivered a speech from the main stage calling for a massive mobilization of young people in view of the forthcoming European electoral process.

Let’s all raise our voices to convince our friends, neighbours, workmates and relatives to vote in the European Elections in May!!

Follow us and find out more about the #IChooseEurope campaign in its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IChooseEurope/

Photo credits: @JEFEurope

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Jam-packed EU Regions & Cities Summit in Bucharest

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The 8th European Summit of Regions and Cities, held in Bucharest on 14-15 March, gathered almost 1,000  EU, national, local and regional leaders from across Europe to discuss the future of the European Union and how to involve the citizens more effectively in the European project through local and regional authorities.

The summit was co-organised by the European Committee of the Regions, the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the Romanian delegation at the CoR.

One of the major outcomes of the event was a declaration (link) by local and regional leaders on the future of Europe will be adopted in order to share their voice ahead of the European elections and ​the next term of office of the EU institutions.

AER played an active role throughout the Summit, with our President, Magnus Berntsson, taking centre stage for a thematic debate on the role of regions and cities in building a sustainable future.

A Sustainable Europe of Regions & Cities

Creating a truly sustainable Europe largely depends on its regions and cities, which are responsible for areas such as air quality, transport, biodiversity, renewable energy, energy efficiency and waste management. The debate highlighted how regions and cities are unlocking investment, driving innovation and showing ambition in the area of mitigating and adapting to climate change.

Magnus’ expertise came to the fore in discussing examples of how regions can make small changes that have a big impact. one of the key messages of the debate and Mr Berntsson intervention was the need for regions and cities to cooperate and share their examples. The regions of Europe and the world are doing amazing work in combating climate change but the know-how is often not shared. However, through platforms such as AER, we can spread best-practice and make a wider impact. Magnus also spoke about the work he is doing as President of the R20 Group of Regions for climate action.

A Common Goal

The debate on sustainability tied in well with a press release published by the CoR on Thursday afternoon stating that local leaders have actively backed the “Global Strike for Future” and are calling for a carbon-neutral EU by 2050. Magnus is quoted in this widely-distributed PR as saying;

“Regional and local governments of Europe and around the world fully endorse the Paris Agreement and call for ambitious climate actions. We’re part of the solution. In our local communities, we understand our citizens’ needs and join forces with local businesses and academia to create green growth and jobs to replace what’s lost in the transition. By working together and sharing good examples we will prevail. This is also what the younger generation demand of us.”

Meeting with Commissioner Cretu

On the sidelines of the Summit itself, the AER team had the pleasure of organising a number of meetings with member regions and other partners. A particular highlight was finding time to meet with European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, from Romania, who was involved in bringing the #EUlocal Summit to Bucharest.

The Commissioner and AER President had a productive discussion on the ongoing negotiations on EU cohesion policy after 2020. They also reflected on  how to collaborate in moving forward the AER campaign “Together for Cohesion let’s rEUnite!“, funded by DG REGIO. The AER secretariat will follow up with the Commissioner’s Cabinet on collaboration for this campaign.

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Candidates for AER Committees’ elections

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The AER Election Committee has been screening applications for open positions within the Committees. 

The elections will take place at the AER Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro on the 26th and 27th of March. Each Committee will elect its President & Vice-Presidents as well as the Chairs of the Working Groups, Subcommittees and representatives for Equal Opportunities. The election of the Committee Presidents will be confirmed by the AER General Assembly in Cyprus.

Applications approved by the Election Committee

The list of approved applications can be found below:

Committee 1 for Economy & Regional development

  • Committee President: Kenneth Backgård, Norrbotten (SE) (View application)
  • Vice-President for Economic Development and Mobility: Michiel Scheffer, Gelderland (NL) (View application)
  • Vice-President for Rural Development, Energy & Environment: position currently held by Kenneth Backgård. If elected Committee 1 President, this position would be vacant. Applications still welcome.
  • Chair of the Working Group on Investment, Business & SMEs: Maricel Popa, Iași (RO) (View application)
  • One female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group: Applications still welcome.

Committee 2 for Social policy & Public health

  • Committee President : Mihai Ritivoiu, Timis (RO)(View application)
  • Vice-President for Health Innovation : Kenneth Johannesson, Värmland (SE) (View application)
  • Chair of the E-Health Network : Donna Henderson, Scotland (UK) (View application)
  • One male and one female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group: Applications still welcome.

Committee 3 for Culture, Education & Youth

  • Committee President : Radimir Čačić, Varazdin (HR) (View application)
  • Vice-President : Aleksandra Djankovic, Vojvodina (RS) (View application)
  • Chair of the Sub-Committee on Youth : Hrvoje Kovač, Varazdin (HR) (View application)
  • Chair of the Sub-Committee on Culture: Fereshteh Jalayer, Värmland (SE) (View application)
  • One male and one female representative for the Equal Opportunities Group: Applications still welcome.

That’s not all…

Applications are still welcome, so please do not hesitate to contact Ulla-Britt Höglund, Seconded Officer to the Election Committee Acting Chair.

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Committee 1 Progress Report Spring 2019

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Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Regional Development and Economy gather in plenary meeting. This is the opportunity to set goals for cooperation through the elaboration of a joint work programme and to evaluate progress every six months.

On the occasion of the Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified joint actions they wanted to implement with fellow regions. Sa years later it is time to evaluate progress, celebrate achievements and share experiences!

Evaluating progress

During the elaboration of the work programme in Arad, planned activities were organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the spring 2019 plenary meeting in Örebro. It gives an overview of the situation, a year after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project: ongoing

“Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” is a project submitted under a call launched by DG REGIO. On the one hand, this project aims at raising awareness on the importance of programmes, projects and services funded by the cohesion policy funds. On the second hand, the project will encourage the participation of citizens and stakeholders to turn them in active players in the dialogue on cohesion policy.

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): finished

The Silver Economy Awards aim to catalyse a sustainable European digital Silver Economy movement by promoting and rewarding innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for over 50s. The Awards are an opportunity to raise awareness around the lesser-known notion of the Silver Economy. They illustrate the breadth of the consumer markets and the public spending involved and the size of the opportunities available for entrepreneurs, investors, public authorities and civil society.

Last year the Silver Economy Awards replaced the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels.

SEED was a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018
After two years of dedicated work, the SEED project has met its objectives.

ARLEM project – Capacity building for an integrated and sustainable urban development: canceled

This is a joint project of the Committee of the Regions regional and local authorities focused on the Mediterranean. In this context, AER answered to the call of ARLEM – Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly in order to provide technical expertise and political support. AER expressed its interest to focus piloting actions in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco having already implemented several actions in these geographical areas.

This project aims to reinforce the capacities of local and regional authorities from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean both in terms of urban management and integrated urban development. AER will contribute in the capacity building activities as well as the organisation of regional conferences.

It is funded by the Finnish Development Agency and activities are planned for 2 years and six months.

REFIT Project – New regulative frameworks to foster innovation in the transport sector: not accepted

The REFIT project, under the Horizon 2020 Programme, will improve the regulative framework to make it consistent with the development of new forms of mobility, including shared used mobility, having in mind to safeguard the interest of the users and to attend societal goals.

The main result will be the creation of a user-friendly governance tool facilitating regulatory processes to support the deployment of innovative transport technologies and services in the EU.

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions: finished

The event on EU funding for Croatian regions, hosted by Varaždin (HR) and Committee 3 President Radimir Čačić, and the event on EU funding for Albanian regions, hosted by Korcë (AL) and MEG member Ana Verushi brought together about 70 participants, both members and non members of AER to:
-hear about AER’s activities
-learn more on AER services for projects and services
-obtain information on the areas of cooperation with EU
-get a relevant update on the current and forthcoming EU funding opportunities
-become aware of the successful experiences of project applicants

Good Practice Sharing

Open data and blockchain in transports, Working group meeting: ongoing

The AER working group on Transports and Mobility, which is chaired by Martin Tollén, member of the Transport and Urban Planning Committee of Östergötland (SE), will meet on March 28th, on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro.
The content will be the following:

The Sustainable Development Goals as policy framework: ongoing

The Working Group on Energy and Climate Change planned to organise a workshop on using the Sustainable Development Goals as a policy framework on September 26th in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS).

New mobility services: ongoing

Good practice exchange on electric cars (production of batteries) and infrastructure. Participation of the working group in the REFIT H2020 project on policies to support New Mobility Services.

Supporting members to use the TAIEX-Environmental Implementation Review: ongoing

The AER Secretariat disseminated information about the TAIEX-EIR peer to peer learning programme and supporting members to use this programme to gain or provide knowledge on environmental policies on topics as diverse as air quality, waste management, water management, the circular economy. This programme which is relatively easy and quick to access is a good complement to activities carried out within AER and an opportunity to access support from the Commission to carry out exchnages with other regions.

The TAIEX-EIR programme was presented at the Autumn plenaries in the workshop of the AER Working group on rural development.

The AER Project Unit will also organise a webinar in May or June 2019 to help members use the programme.

Food: short supply chains & quality food: ongoing

The Working Group on rural development organised a side event on the occasion of Smart City Expo World Congress on the topic of food. Findings of this side event will feed the work of the Bureau Task Force on food.

Youth entrepeneurship: ongoing

Members expressed the wish to develop youth entrepreneurship actions in link with Committee 3. EMAX, a Swedish organisation, which organises innovation camps presented their work on the occasion of the Autumn Committee 3 plenary meeting. They will also organise a Breakfast Debate on youth entrepreneurship on the occasion of the Spring 2019 plenary meetings in Örebro (SE).

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy: finished

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital organised a mutual learning event on the sharing Economy together with Catalonia, in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region (BE). This event organised upon the invitation of Committee 1 President Jean Luc Vanraes, aimed to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions were welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

The event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the third sector for vivid exchanges. A follow up article with updates on what happened in Brussels was published.

International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions: finished

The three AER committees and the AER Task Force on Migration worked closely together to develop messaging ahead of the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions event in Barcelona on Tuesday 18 December 2018.
Participants shared their experiences and good practices in diversity management at regional level, including examples of policies, programmes and projects promoting inclusion, participation in civic, economic and political life, positive intercultural interaction and the sense of belonging.

Workshop on Life Cycle Approaches to Regional Sustainable Development: finished

Following the September 2017 workshop on life cycle approaches for renewable energy, circular economy and regional development, members of the working group on energy and climate change were invited to participate in a workshop in Bordeaux, France in 4 and 5 March 2019.
This workshop was intended as a consultative forum to gather advice, experience and further case studies to facilitate this move. It will help to develop an outreach programme on Life Cycle approaches to sustainable regional development.

Autumn Plenary, Vojvodina: finished

The 2018 Autumn Committee Plenaries were hosted by the region of Vojvodina in Serbia from 25 – 27 September 2018. A detailed recap of all the meetings that took place is available here.

Plenary meeting: Committee for Economy and Regional Development: finished

On the occasion of the 2018 Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings in Vojvodina, the Committee on Economy and Regional Development members decided that the Task Force on Cohesion Policy, which for historic reasons was under the responsibility of this Committee, should be transferred to the Bureau for coherence purposes, as it is the Bureau which is in charge of the identification of policy messages and advocacy activities.

Panel discussion at the Vojvodina plenaries on Open data for regional development: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, the panel discussion “Open data for regional development: governance, start-ups and innovation” took place.

The discussion focused on how public institutions collect and generate enormous quantities of data in areas as varied as unemployment, air pollution, hospital consultations etc and how this data can best be re-used to create or improve both public and private services. There is a need to change the political perception of Open Data and instead view it as opportunity for policy-making.

Sustainable Urban Mobility, Working group meeting: finished

The Working Group on Transports and Mobility decided in Spring 2018 to work on sustainable urban mobility. At the Autumn Committees Plenary meetings, Miroslav Tadic, UNDP Climate Change Portfolio Manager shared the experience of UNDP in Serbia.

Meeting of the Working group on Energy and Climate Change: finished

The Working Group on Energy and Climate Change met in September 2018 on the occasion of Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings. On this occasion, the workshop “The SDGs as a policy framework” took place. Many regions are very active in this space. Oppland, Norway and Varmland, Sweden provided case studies.

Meeting of the Working group on Rural development: finished

The Working Group on Rural Development met in September 2018 on the occasion of Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings. On this occasion, the workshop “Waste management in rural areas” took place. Svetlana Marusic presented the situation in Vojvodina (RS) and Olimpia Neagoe, Chair of the Working Group, presented a project which is being implemented in Dolj (RO) and which is substantially supported by EU funding. Sustainable Waste Management involves both considerable investments in infrastructure and a lot of work on behavioural changes.

Webinar on New Mobilities: canceled

The Working Group on Transports & Mobility will organise a webinar on New Mobilities for all AER members. Date & topic tbc.

International event on Biomass in Vojvodina: canceled

Organisation of an international event on Biomass in Vojvodina (RS) in collaboration with AER members. It was replaced by an International Business Summit

Using the SDGs to communicate AER activities: planned

Oppland suggested that as many of the AER activities are contributing to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, AER should promote the 2030 Agenda, raising visibility of how AER and its member regions are contributing to reach goals.

Study visit on the energy transition: finished

The main focus of the study visit, was the bottom-up approach for the energy transition, which was implemented in the region. This multi-stakeholder cooperation was materialised by the Gelders’ Energy agreement (GEA). The shared goal is to make the province energy-neutral by 2050. Local and regional industries, governments and NGOs’ in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, have pledged for the province to become energy-neutral by 2050. It facilitates a co-creative process where initiatives, actors, and energy are integrated into society.

Participants shared good practice and experience and in particular:

observe Gelders’ Energy agreement working process
meet with Gelders’ Energy agreement regional partners
carry out visits to observe regional results
participate in a serious game on energy and the diverging interests of stakeholders to exchange about challenges.

Waste management in rural areas: finished

The Working Group on rural development organised a workshop on waste management in rural areas on September 27th in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS).

Study visit on food production: cancelled

The idea was to focus the study visit on the approach to food production in order to see how microfirm became large company, which was implemented in the Norrbotten region. The initiative could potentially have been linked with the TAIEX EIR peer learning opportunity of the European Commission. This idea was not implemented.

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Mobility: engagement in the EIP-SCC: ongoing

The AER Working Group on Transports and Mobility is involved in the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities. It shares regular updates on the work of the EIP-SCC with members

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Members agreed in September 2018 that the Task Force on Cohesion will now be under the responsibility of the Bureau, which is also in charge of the other Task Forces. Joint actions include:
– Convene joint advocacy: Bureau Members adopted an updated position on the European Commission legislative proposals for the future EU cohesion policy, setting out the specific changes European regions propose to make to the new framework.
– Advocate towards the European Union and Member States
– Work in alliance with other relevant stakeholders and European associations
Flevoland (NL) is coordinating the implementation of the action and the cohesion policy task force help implement the action.

Financing climate action: ongoing

AER works alongside R20, Blue Orchard and Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation to set up a 350 million $ Subnational Climate Fund to finance climate projects in European regions. In August AER met the European Investment Bank to pursue negotiations.

AER was present at this year’s UN climate meeting, which took place in Katowice, Poland. The highlight of AER’s involvement was when AER President Magnus Berntsson spoke at the high-level segment 12 December on behalf of all the regions and municipalities of the world.

AER at the OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs: finished

Eva Hallström from Värmland, chairing the AER working group on energy and climate change, represented AER while speaking at the 1st OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs, which took place at the OECD Headquarters in Paris.

The Roundtable brought together cities, regions, national governments, international organisations, private sector and other key stakeholders to identify trends and challenges in the localisation of the SDGs, including the experiences and key findings from the pilots of the programme “A Territorial Approach to the SDGs”.

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions. The AER Secretariat will also organise Breakfast Briefings to help regions organise their advocacy activities.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutional Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

-Task Force on Cohesion

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The developement of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committees work programmes. The work programmes are developped in Spring each year.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the AER Action Plan.

Photo by Ryan Yao on Unsplash

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Committee 2 Progress Report Spring 2019

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Twice a year the members of the AER Committee on Social Policy and Public Health gather in plenary meeting. This is the opportunity to set goals for cooperation through the elaboration of a joint work programme and to evaluate progress every six months.

On the occasion of the Spring 2018 Committees’ plenaries in Arad, AER members identified joint actions they wanted to implement with fellow regions. A year later it is time to evaluate progress, celebrate achievements and share experiences!

Evaluating progress

During the elaboration of the work programme in Arad, planned activities were organised in 3 categories:

Projects
Good practice sharing
Lobbying

The below progress report was compiled for the spring 2019 plenary meeting in Örebro. It gives an overview of the situation, 1 year after the adoption of the work programme.

Projects

SCIROCCO Exchange project – Personalised knowledge transfer and access to tailored evidence-based assets on integrated care: ongoing

The SCIROCCO Exchange project, under the 3rd Health Programme, is based on the SCIROCCO project, which has resulted in the development of an online self-assessment tool for integrated care. The project will run from end 2018 to end 2020. It will support regions, mainly health and social care authorities for the adoption and the scaling-up of integrated care. The maturity matrix, at the core of the project, offers a tool for regions to better deliver integrated care for their citizens while at the same time empowering citizens. With this tool regions can assess their current status, revealing areas of strengths and also gaps in their capability managing the many activities needed in order to deliver integrated care.

The lead partner is the Scottish Government Health Agency Service, a new AER member. The consortium is composed by 14 organisations.

AER is leading the Working Package on knowledge transfer, helping the regions in preparing the local environment for implementation and scaling-up integrated care.

Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite! project: ongoing

The project will launch an integrated campaign “Together for Cohesion: let’s rEUnite!” with ongoing press functions and an activity mix which will allow us to achieve indirect and direct reach of the target audience.
The campaign centers on the stories of locals in regions in each of the five selected countries (Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Italy and Spain), as a highly-relatable focal points to convey the positive impact of Cohesion policy in people’s everyday lives.

The project is led by AER with the international communication agency MC Group (DE). The application was submitted to the DG Regio on the media calls for proposals.

The project is part of AER’s work on Cohesion Policy.

AMiD project for the inclusion of migrants with disabilities: ongoing

This project is led by the European Association of Service Providers  for Persons with Disabilities and aims to improve the access to services for migrants with disabilities. AER is a partner and Valencia, Timis and Värmland are all members of the Advisory Board. The AMiD project will provide opportunities for experience sharing and capacity building in this area for all AER members.

Silver Economy Awards (SEED): finished

The Silver Economy Awards aim to catalyse a sustainable European digital Silver Economy movement by promoting and rewarding innovative solutions to improve the quality of life for over 50s. The Awards are an opportunity to raise awareness around the lesser-known notion of the Silver Economy. They illustrate the breadth of the consumer markets and the public spending involved and the size of the opportunities available for entrepreneurs, investors, public authorities and civil society.

Last year the Silver Economy Awards replaced the traditional AER Regional Innovation Award. The first Awards Ceremony took place on May 2018 in Brussels.

SEED is a two-year project: 10/2016 to 09/2018.
After two years of dedicated work, the SEED project has met its objectives and is wrapping up its activities.

Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA): finished

The MOCHA team is led by the Imperial College London and involves 19 scientific partners from ten European countries and 30 country agents from each European Member State and EEA country. MOCHA appraises the differing models of child health that are used across Europe. The project identified gaps in knowledge, on surveillance of children’s primary care and children’s specific needs in primary care, lack of coordination of care, models of care that are not based on current child health epidemiology, and low prioritisation of children’s needs in e-health strategies. AER is a member of the Advisory Board. AER is benefitting from the connection with the MOCHA experts, which have been invited at AER events (workshop on health innovation ecosystems in Izmir, workshop on social capital for integrated care in Norrbotten) and also shared expertise and advice for the development of the project on youth mental health led by Catalonia and Norrbotten. The project is now in the final year where results will be published. The final conference took place on 15-16 November in The Hague.

Event: EU funding for Croatian & Albanian regions: finished

The event on EU funding for Croatian regions, hosted by Varaždin (HR) and Committee 3 President Radimir Čačić, and the event on EU funding for Albanian regions, hosted by Korcë (AL) and MEG member Ana Verushi brought together about 70 participants, both members and non members of AER to:

-hear about AER’s activities
-learn more on AER services for projects and services
-obtain information on the areas of cooperation with EU
-get a relevant update on the current and forthcoming EU funding opportunities
-become aware of the successful experiences of project applicants

HOME4LIFE – Certified smart and integrated living environments for ageing well: pending approval

AER joined this project as supporting partner, upon the request of AGE Platform which is partner in the consortium. No budget or specific tasks assigned.

This project has been submitted within Horizon 2020 – CSA on “Supporting investment in smart living environments for ageing well through certification” and aims at the development of a European certification scheme fostering safe investments and supporting physical and technological retrofitting for what concerns age-friendly environments and accomodation.

The results of the evaluation should be known in 2018.

INTEGRATE PERMED project – The inter-regional linking infrastructure for implementation in personalised medicine:project rejected

The INTEGRATE PERMED has been submitted under the Horizon 2020 Programme. It aims at linking the efforts in personalised medicine across European Regions by mapping them and then exchange of experiences between selected regions. The project will focus on breast cancer as a launching pathology to maintain focus. After validation, the approach will be replicated to other pathologies.

PATHWAY project – Pathway to social entrepreneurship: project rejected

The PATHWAY project, under the Erasmus+ Programme, aims at providing learners with a training programme which meet their needs in the sector of social entrepreneurship. It also aims to raise awareness on the role social entrepreneurship can play in local development, fostering also be the establishment of links and cooperation between different stakeholders.

The multiplier event will be a collateral activity of the AER Summer Academy

Submitted within the Erasmus+ Programme, the Social Entrepreneurship Key competences (SEK) project strives for providing learners with specialized training in the sector of social entrepreneurship with a special focus on tourism.

Social Entrepreneur Key competencies – SEK project: project rejected

Within this project, AER is in charge of organising an international information day, which will be the opportunity to share the project outcomes and to foster networking. AER is also in charge of a training session to test training course for social entrepreneurs. On top of that, AER will perform advocacy work in order to raise the attention on the project findings at regional and EU level.

The activities realised by the AER will take place in the scope of the Eurodyssey and the AER Youth Regional Network.

PIKTOGRAMA project – Visual thinking for social innovation: project rejected

PIKTOGRAMA is a project submitted within Erasmus+ Programme. It focuses on design thinking approach as a method to empower non-profit organisation and implement original visual thinking tools to face new EU societal challenges (e.g. climate change). The project aims at raising awareness on this approach and the advantages it has in the social innovation context as well as stimulating its use by training the youths.

The project will provide regions with recommendations regarding design thinking, which can be an interesting method for non-profit organisations to approach social challenges.

The multiplier event will be a collateral activity within the Youth Regional Network General Assembly, thus creating synergies between AER programmes and the project.

Good Practice Sharing

Equal access to healthcare: ongoing

The AER Group on Equal Opportunities has identified equal access to health as the main topic to be addressed in Committee 2. This includes:

-vulnerable groups: meet them where they are & help them
– exchange good practices on reducing barriers to care & access to servicesThe AER Transversal Group on Equal Opportunities held regular phone calls to identify joint actions on the topics identified by the Group.

Autumn Plenary, Vojvodina: finished

The 2018 Autumn Committee Plenaries were hosted by the region of Vojvodina in Serbia from 25 – 27 September 2018. A detailed recap of all the meetings that took place is available here.

Breakfast Briefing on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children: finished

Committee 2 members decided to share experiences on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children. In this context a Breakfast Briefing was organised on welcoming unaccompanied migrant children in Novi Sad on 27 September 2018, which was led by the European Programme for Integration and Migration, an initiative of currently 25 private foundations, which has the goal of strengthening the role played by civil society in advocating for constructive approaches to migration in Europe.
A background article on youth on the move was published by the AER Secretariat.

Plenary meeting: Committee for Social Policy and Public Health: finished

On the occasion of the 2018 Autumn the Committees Plenary meetings in Vojvodina, the Committee on Social Policy and Public Health members said farewell to Agneta Granström, Vice President of the Committee and Chair of the AER e-Health network. Albert Castellanos, Catalonia (ES) was elected Vice-President for Health Innovation, other positions were left open for future candidacies.
On the occasion of Committee 2 plenary meeting in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS), members decide to focus on social entrepreneurship & inclusion
Good practices from Umbria (IT) and Maramures (RO) were presented.

Panel discussion at the Vojvodina plenaries on Open data for regional development: finished

On the occasion of the Autumn plenaries in Vojvodina, the panel discussion “Open data for regional development: governance, start-ups and innovation” took place.

The discussion focused on how public institutions collect and generate enormous quantities of data in areas as varied as unemployment, air pollution, hospital consultations etc and how this data can best be re-used to create or improve both public and private services. There is a need to change the political perception of Open Data and instead view it as opportunity for policy-making.

Meeting of the Working Group for Equal Opportunities: finished

The AER Group on Equal opportunities has regular phone meetings and met as well in Novi Sad to discuss the development of a Code of Conduct for AER.

Mutual learning event on the Sharing Economy: finished

Each year Brussels Capital proposes a mutual learning event on a current and transversal topic. On December 4th 2018, Brussels Capital organised a mutual learning event on the sharing Economy together with Catalonia, in Brussels, Brussels Capital Region (BE). This event organised upon the invitation of Committee 1 President Jean Luc Vanraes, aimed to gather experiences from all three AER Committees and regions were welcome to share inputs and regional examples.

The event brought together policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics and representatives of the third sector for vivid exchanges. A follow up article with updates on what happened in Brussels was published.

International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions: finished

The three AER committees and the AER Task Force on Migration worked closely together to develop messaging ahead of the International Migrants Day: Promoting Diversity in Regions event in Barcelona on Tuesday 18 December 2018.
Participants shared their experiences and good practices in diversity management at regional level, including examples of policies, programmes and projects promoting inclusion, participation in civic, economic and political life, positive intercultural interaction and the sense of belonging.

AER e-health network activities: planned

The AER e-health network has achieved the objectives it had set at its creation. The plenary meeting in Arad was the opportunity to set new objectives. These include good practice sharing on

-risks of digital exclusion
-business models
-data protection, profiling & mass surveillance
-Artificial intelligence, bots
After the 2018 Spring plenaries, no concrete initiatives were identified. This was mainly due to the fact the AER e-health network didn’t have a chair to give impulse to its activities. At the Spring 2019 Committee 2 plenary meeting, members will elect a new chair and get an opportunity to define new actions they would like to implement jointly.

Leadership programme for policymakers on e-health, integrated care systems and health innovation: cancelled

The AER e-health network wants to share good practices on leadership for the deployment of integrated care systems. After the 2018 Spring plenaries, no concrete initiatives were identified. New opportunities may arise with the implementation of the Scirocco Exchange knowledge hub which will be developed and will also provide tools to improve readiness to change, leadership and governance in general.

Advocacy/ Lobbying

Cohesion Policy Activities: ongoing

Members agreed in September 2018 that the Task Force on Cohesion will now be under the responsibility of the Bureau, which is also in charge of the other Task Forces. Joint actions include:
– Convene joint advocacy: Bureau Members adopted an updated position on the European Commission legislative proposals for the future EU cohesion policy, setting out the specific changes European regions propose to make to the new framework.
– Advocate towards the European Union and Member States
– Work in alliance with other relevant stakeholders and European associations
Flevoland (NL) is coordinating the implementation of the action and the cohesion policy task force help implement the action.

AER Bureau Task Forces

The 2018 Spring Bureau established the creation of Task Forces on dedicated topics. These Task Forces will gather examples, identify and formulate policy messages which will be brought together in position papers which will then be used for advocacy. Members who would like to contribute to one of the below Task Forces should contact AER Coordinator for Advocacy & Institutionnal Relations Vania Freitas

-Task Force on Food

-Task force on Digitalisation

-Task Force on Migration

-Task Force on Social Innovation

Joint initiatives for advocacy

Member regions can decide to initiate joint actions and find partners among AER members. Regions can get support from the Secretariat to connect with other regions, get an overview of existing legal framework and identify relevant actions, target institutions. The AER Secretariat will also organise Breakfast Briefings to help regions organise their advocacy activities.

The Committees’ work programmes and the AER action Plan

The developement of the Action Plan is a collective process to enable all participants to specify needs and decide to initiate activities which add value for their region. The principle is the following: as long as an action fits with the AER values, is in line with the AER priorities and has support from other regions, it can be included in the Committees work programmes. The work programmes are developped in Spring each year.

The AER action plan is the consolidation of the three Committees’ work programmes with all other activities led by the Bureau and the Executive Board. It is adopted at the General Assembly.

Members can propose new joint initiatives at any time during the year, these are then approved by the Executive Board and included in the Committees work programmes and the AER action plan.

Photo by sergee bee on Unsplash

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Innovating food systems: what are regions doing?

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Policymakers from all over wider Europe will gather at the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro (SE), where AER is organising the seminar “Food for thought Action! A regional approach to innovating food systems” on March 27th. Regions will share how they innovate food systems to achieve:
– nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets
– climate and environmental sustainability
– circularity and resource efficiency
– innovation and empowering communities

Ensuring the knowledge flow in AER

The findings from this exchange of experiences will allow for mutual learning and improvement of regional policymaking across wider Europe and will provide elements to support the work of the AER Bureau Task Force on Food. This event will be an opportunity for members to learn from each others and to contribute to the “Food 2030” priorities.

A transition to sustainable food systems

Global food systems have played a huge role in improving food security and nutrition. Yet these systems are also at the heart of our global health and sustainability crises. Indeed Food, mobility and housing are responsible for almost 80% of the environmental impacts of consumption. Sustainable food systems have therefore a major role to play in making cities and regions better places to live in.

Using the FOOD 2030 Research and Innovation Strategy as a framework, regions will share how they innovate food systems on four major topics.

1. Nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets

Achieving healthy diets, adequate nutrition, good health and wellbeing for all in a sustainable manner is at the core of the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals. ​Regions often play a central role in improving the capacity of food systems to deliver better nutrition.
According to the Committee Of the Regions (COR), regional authorities should prioritise to serve as role models by selling and providing healthy, local and seasonal foodstuffs that ensure sustainability and to make their contribution to Goal 12 (Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns).
In Örebro, AER members will present examples around nutrition ranging from food for well being and good mental health to the sensory evaluation of food and its impact for the eating experience.

2. Climate and environmental sustainability

Stimulating and sustain the development of a food production system that respects the environment is an integral and indivisible part of the Agenda 2030 process.

In this context regions can act at different places in the food system, be it at the level of production, transformation, logistics and transports or distribution and finally waste management. A holistic approach is therefore needed. Mutual learning at the seminar on 27 March will help AER members to spot potential weaknesses in their regional food systems and share challenges and solutions with peers.

3. Circularity and resource efficiency

Food 2030 aims at implementing resource-efficient circular economy principles across the whole food system that can contribute to reduce its environmental footprint and to minimise food losses and food waste.Regions will share experiences regarding regional food innovation hubs and shorter food supply chains to transform and revitalise the agri-food sector.

4. Innovation and empowering communities

Innovation is one of the most important topics in regional development policies. To innovate food systems multistakeholder collaboration and ecosystem development is needed. This should lead to the development of new products, processes, business models and services. The idea being to facilitate the creation of innovation-based jobs in the agro-food sector. But innovation needs to be social as well, to meet the needs, values and expectations of society in a responsible way

AER 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries

Multiple times per year, AER brings together regions, so that they may stand stronger together, and grow in a space of experience exchange.

The 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries will be hosted by the region of Örebro in Sweden, from 26 till 28 March 2019.

This year, food will be in the spotlight. AER members will discuss how they innovate food systems to improve nutrition for healthy and sustainable diets, climate and environmental sustainability, circularity and resource efficiency and last but not least, innovation and empowering communities.

How to prepare

To make the most out of the series of meetings and opportunities for networking at the AER plenary meeting in Örebro it is very important you gather information about your regional food system. Here are questions you can ask your colleagues in the relevant departments:

  • What are the main challenges for food systems in the region?
  • What are the region’s strengths and weaknesses?
  • What is the thing the region does best, regarding food systems?
  • Which stakeholders would need to be involved more? What may be difficult when it comes to involving them?
  • Would you like to find contacts in other regions, who work on food systems?

Photo by Chinh Le Duc on Unsplash

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An integrated approach to the Sustainable Development Goals

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The Committees’ Work Programmes for 2018-2019 demonstrates a strong commitment towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of the main topics members decided to work on last Spring, was the use of the Sustainable Development Goals as a policy framework.

Experience exchange and advocacy

In this context, the AER Working Group on Energy and Climate Change exchanged experiences during a workshop in September 2018 in Novi Sad, Vojvodina (RS).

Working Group Chair Eva Hallström also attended a meeting represented AER at the 1st OECD Roundtable on Cities and Regions for the SDGs, which took place at the OECD Headquarters in Paris. The roundtable brought together cities, regions, national governments, international organisations, private sector and other key stakeholders to identify trends and challenges in the localisation of the SDGs, including the experiences and key findings from the pilots of the programme “A Territorial Approach to the SDGs”.

The 2030 Agenda

Since its inception in 2015, the UN Sustainable Development Agenda (Agenda 2030), calls on governments, businesses and citizens to collectively mobilize to end all forms of poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals are designed to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

Using the SDGs as a policy framework

AER members are working with the Sustainable Development Goals in the regions. This is why they are interested in learning from peers how they use the SDGs so they can improve the efficiency of policies and avoid pitfalls. Indeed, regions and cities are key actors for addressing the most urgent societal challenges European economies are facing as well as for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. In Europe, regions and cities hold competencies in the provision of basic and social services, health, education, urban planning and resource, and waste management, among others. However, there is no one size fits all when it comes to the mainstreaming process. Each region needs to take into account their own realities and circumstances. ​

The need for an integrated approach

The OECD stresses the importance of an integrated approach in the implementation of the SDGs. Many SDGs are interconnected with each other; an integrated approach implies managing trade-offs and maximising synergies across targets.

For example progress in achieving SDG 1 No poverty, has direct and indirect positive impacts on health and wellbeing (SDG3), Quality education (SDG4), Gender equality (SDG5), Clean water and sanitation (SDG6), and potentially also leads to reduced inequalities (SDG10).

On the other hand, for instance, using coal to improve energy access and deliver on SDG 7 Affordable and clean energy, would accelerate climate change and acidify the oceans. This would undermine SDG 13 Climate action and SDG 14 Life below water. It would also exacerbate other problems such as damage to health from air pollution, which in turn would affect SDG 3 Good health and wellbeing.

A first step towards integrated implementation is to understand the linkages among the SDGs, both at the goal level and among targets. In this effort, several tools have been designed to tackle integration and policy coherence.

Different tools for different needs

Many stakeholders struggle with the use of the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for regional policy-making. In this context, the European Commission published on January 30th a Reflection Paper on a Sustainable Europe by 2030: the paper reviews challenges and debates on how the Sustainable Development Goals can be best achieved and how the European States and regions can best contribute by 2030.

David Tremblay identified gaps for an integrated implementation and analysed different tools for addressing SDGs connections. Among them, the SDG Acceleration toolkit is an online compendium of methodologies and guidance for analysing interconnections among the SDGs, assessing how to contribute to help stakeholders at all levels understand synergies and trade-offs and identify and unlock barriers for strategising, prioritising and accelerating progress.

AER 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries

Multiple times per year, AER brings together regions, so that they may stand stronger together, and grow in a space of experience exchange.

The AER Working Group on energy and climate change is chaired by Eva Hallström, County Councilor from Värmland (SE). Delegates will meet on March 27th, on the occasion of the 2019 Spring Committee Plenaries in Örebro for a workshop on implementing the SDGs at regional level. This will allow regional representatives from all over wider Europe to exchange experiences in the implementation of the SDGs at regional level and their integration into policies, plans, and strategies. Participants will discuss experiences in order to bring back new ideas back home for policymaking and identify opportunities for joint initiatives.

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Study Visit on Climate Change: Connecting Nijmegen Municipality and Denizli Metropolitan Municipality

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AER aims to create a platform where members can learn from each other by exchanging best practices and sharing experiences. Here, we would like to share a fruitful study visit experience from two of our member regions. On 28 November, Denizli Metropolitan Municipality (TR) visited Nijmegen Municipality, Province of Gelderland (NL) to discover more about Climate Change.

What is the project?

At the moment, Denizli Metropolitan Municipality (TR), has a
project called “Power
The Revolution for Climate Action” under Capacity
Building in the Field of Climate Change in Turkey Grant Scheme (CCGS) program
that is co-funded by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey.

The most important outcome of this project will be the Denizli Climate Change Action Plan where they will identify the knowledge gaps, needs and uncertainties, engage local stakeholders, describe the existing national/local policies on climate change, assess vulnerability and risk, prioritise the impact of these, develop an action plan, design the implementation of actions and share the action plan with the public and on the international level.

What about the Study
Visit?

On 28 November, Denizli Municipality visited Nijmegen Municipality, which was then 2018 European Green Capital. The objectives of the study visit were to increase the capacity of municipal staff, learn more about green energy from a European city and exchange experiences to contribute to the project.

In the morning session, Nijmegen Municipality presented the climate adaption process and energy transition in their city as well as in the Province of Gelderland. In the afternoon session, the focus was the river climate adaptation project, along with the visit to the River Waal. The study visit continued with the site visits to a citizen-owned wind farm Nijmegen-Betuwe and waste incineration plant ARN.

We were very happy to learn, from both members, that the study visit was in equal parts productive and enjoyable!

We are always happy to link up our members to stimulate mutual learning & exchange of information and best practices! Why not contact the AER secretariat to find out more?!

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Towards a more sustainable Europe by 2030

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The AER Working Group on Energy and Climate Change has recently exchanged experiences on the use of the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework for regional policy-making.
In this context, the European Commission published on January 30th a Reflection Paper on a Sustainable Europe by 2030.
As part of the debate on the future of Europe, the paper reviews challenges and debates on how the Sustainable Development Goals can be best achieved and how the European States and regions can best contribute by 2030.

The Reflection Paper focuses on the key policy foundations for the sustainability transition, which include moving from linear to circular economy, correcting the imbalances in our food system, future-proofing our energy, buildings and mobility, and making sure that this transition is fair, leaving no one and no place behind. The Paper also concentrates on the horizontal enablers, which need to underpin the sustainability transition, including education, science, technology, research, innovation and digitisation; finance, pricing, taxation and competition; responsible business conduct, corporate social responsibility and new business models; open and rules-based trade; governance and policy coherence at all levels. The Paper ends by emphasising the importance of blazing the trail for the sustainability transition globally as our policies will only have a limited impact on the planet if others pursue opposing policies.

A reformed cohesion policy

Cohesion policy is a major EU investment tool to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
With a budget of EUR 370 billion, it will focus on sustainable growth, the transition towards a low carbon and circular economy, the environment and resource efficiency, and social inclusion. The reformed cohesion policy will enable the EU to deliver on the targets of the Paris Climate Agreement and will help localise Sustainable Development Goals since its delivery is done in close cooperation with regions and local authorities, by directly supporting them.

Have your say

The United Nations launched a Stakeholders E-consultation on the Sustainable Development Goals under review at the 2019 High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). You can submit there your inputs by 8th February. The E-Consultation will serve to improve stakeholders’ access to information and promote broad and participatory engagement on the follow up and review of the 2030 Agenda implementation.

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