Eurocities doubles down on climate neutrality goal with an ambitious proposal

The influential urban network wants to increase the 2030 emissions reduction target to 60%

In a classic example of making lemonade out of life’s lemons, one of the most influential inter-municipal organizations on the Old Continent, Eurocities, has released a new position paper which calls for revising even further the 2030 emissions reduction target with a view towards a more assured achievement of climate neutrality by 2050.

The motivation behind this proposal is the sobering realization, which the COVID pandemic has imposed on citizens, civic groups and administrations that the sanitary and economic suffering felt in its wake can only be relieved through a recovery which cannot happen at the expense of the green future that had been promised to European children.

Eurocities counts almost 200 members and partners from 39 countries across the continent

The urban advocacy group has timed this important announcement to coincide with the upcoming European Council summit on 10-11 December. Back in September 2020, the European Commission already proposed increasing the target rate from the agreed 40% to 55% after indication that the original target might not be effective enough to keep the rise in global temperatures within the 1.5 °C limit. Now, European cities warn that even that new number might be too low.

“Five years after the Paris agreement, the pandemic has shown sustainability to be a crucial issue on which we cannot fail,” said Dario Nardella, President of Eurocities and Mayor of Florence. “Europe must maintain its global leadership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 60% for 2030, laying the groundwork for an inclusive recovery.”

This proposal, apart from a clear vow of commitment to the green goals of the EU, is also an appeal for an increasingly active role and participation on part of local government in the processes of resource-sharing and decision-making which concern the ever increasing role of economies based on sustainability principles.

It is becoming clearer that social, economic and even cultural recovery should go hand in hand with environmental care, and much of that impetus and innovation would come from an increasingly urbanized Europe.