Regions for Sustainable Change Project Support of Shaping the Post Kyoto Climate Regime 5-6 March 2009 Szentendre, Hungary Overview of Regions for Sustainable Change Project Venelina Varbova Project Coordinator

Why regional development programs are important for moving towards low carbon economy? Economic development typically managed at the regional level Regional authorities well positioned to put strategic objectives like climate change into action Regional development programmes are strategic funding documents that aim to drive the economic growth Regional development programmes are an opportunity for integration of sustainability into development European regions have great potential to contribute to the overall sustainability of growth through lower emissions and implementation of innovative climate change mitigation and adaptation measures

Presentation overview General information on RSC project and partnership Project objectives and components Methodology First steps in implementation

Regions for Sustainable Change What to know about the project? Partnership: 12 partners from 8 countries Duration: Oct 2008 – Sep 2011 (36 months) Total budget:€ 2,099,980.64 Co-funded by: INTERREG IVC Programme Lead partner institution: Regional Environmental Center

The RSC Partnership Wroclaw CEP Cornwall Burgenland U Debrecen REC Diversity of the partnership Geographical 8 countries Legal status 4 “bodies governed by public law” (Community Energy Plus, Lamoro, REC, University Debrecen) 2 “local public authorities” (Cornwall, Wroclaw) 4 “regional public authorities” (Burgenland, La Rioja, Liguria, Marche) 2 “national public authorities” (Bulgaria MRDPW, Malta Environment and Planning Authority) Lamoro Liguria Marche Bulgaria MRDPW La Rioja MEPA

Project Objective “The overall objective is to promote an EU-wide shift to climate-friendly economies by developing the potential of regional development programmes to stimulate mitigation and adaptation to climate change to deliver sustainable socio-economic development.” General objective of the project as established in the application form (and agreed during the meeting in Szentendre in November 2007). (Let’s save the interpretation perhaps for later )

Sub-objectives Share good practices. Develop long-lasting relationships between partners. Raise awareness and disseminate information. Inventory and compare SEA approaches. Investigate and incorporate the use of SEA and SA into regional development programmes. Practical guidance to convince and assist local and regional authorities and agencies. Provide expertise and capacity-building to partner regions. Give partner regions the opportunity to undertake pilot actions related. Project findings communication at a strategic policy-forming level. To share good practice and existing experience among partners, and develop long-lasting relationships and friendships between partners with similar strategic goals and challenges 2. To raise awareness and disseminate information on climate change risks and options for mitigation and adaptation, and to engage a wider stakeholder network, through dissemination activities including local, national and international workshops and conferences and the production of useful and attractive written materials and tools 3. To inventory and compare approaches to SEA for the monitoring of regional development programmes To investigate and incorporate the use of SEA and Sustainability Assessment (SA) for integration of climate change and low carbon economy issues into regional development programmes 5. To work together to produce practical guidance to convince and assist local and regional authorities and agencies across the EU to include climate change, low carbon economy and low carbon social equity issues into regional development programmes 6. To provide expertise and capacity-building to partner regions on climate change, carbon emissions, social equity, SEA/SA, and the tools and methodologies developed by the partnership To give partner regions the opportunity to undertake pilot actions related to climate change, low carbon economy, SEA/SA and regional development programmes, which they would otherwise not carry out as part of regional policy and management 8. To ensure that the findings from the project are communicated at a strategic policy-forming level

Project components Management and Coordination 2. Communication and Dissemination Website, newsletters, Dissemination & publicity material External events, Final conference Steering group meetings Reporting Financial management Administrative management 3. Exchange of experiences 4. Pilot actions Baseline report, Indicators & criteria, Macro-economic analysis, SEA discussion paper, Methodological Handbook, CB & Thematic seminars Pilot actions Progress reports Final reports Component 1 Outputs (REC) project team recruited and hired kick-off meeting 6 steering committee meetings 6 progress reports and financial claims Results: no serious, irregularities and with smooth reporting to the programme Component 2 Outputs (Liguria) a functioning and useful project website; a project communication strategy; a project “corporate branding” document; 5 partnership newsletters; 24 press releases; 2 brochures 10 000 copies of brocures disseminated; 7 dissemination events 5 other events. Results: Effective External project communication (promoted widely and clearly to key policymakers, decision-makers etc) Targets: 12 articles in media, 300 attendees total for dissemination events Component 3 Outputs (Cornwall County Council) Baseline report Report on criteria and indicators Macro-economic analyses of three partner regions’ carbon economies; SEA/SA discussion paper Methodological handbook Capacity-building materials for 3 workshops; 3 capacity-building/thematic seminars. Results: Partners build their capacities and develop practical products for future use. 50 good practices successfully transferred, 50 staff members with increased capacity. Component 4 Outputs (Burgenland) 5 pilot action concepts developed; 5 pilot actions undertaken by partners; 10 pilot action progress reports; 5 pilot action reports with lessons learned Results: Transfer of experiences, 10 important lessons learned transferred to the project methodological handbook; 5 new practices/techniques installed in regions; 25 regional staff with increased capacity

Major outputs Baseline report on the situation in the partner regions; Report on criteria and indicators; A macro-economic analysis of three partner regions which will identify the necessary structural changes regions required for achieving low carbon status; SEA/sustainability assessment discussion paper; Methodological handbook for integration of climate change into regional development programmes; Pilot actions (such as the preparation of a carbon footprint of regional development programmes) Report on criteria and indicators which will describe the position which partner regions aim to achieve with regard to low carbon economy;

Methodology Project combines traditional networking opportunities with research and analysis to be carried out by the partners and external experts Project team and Component Leaders will set up working groups for each major task Working groups meet 2 – 3 times Partners choose their working groups according to interest and experience

Progress so far Project activities launched in Dec 2008 with the kick-off meeting Working group on baseline assessment started 4 new working groups will be launched in March

More information about the project http://rsc.rec.org/?page=home Thank you for your very kind interest!