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State of regions and cities: a strong and decentralised cohesion policy is key for Europe’s resilience and competitiveness
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The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has published the sixth edition of the EU Annual Report on the State of Regions and Cities, which was presented by President Kata Tüttő on 13 October at the opening session of the 23rd European Week of Regions and Cities to European, national and regional leaders, decision-makers and stakeholders.
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MEPs and regional leaders agree that climate resilience is built from bottom-up
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To underline the importance of strengthening climate resilience at local level and adapt to the consequences of climate change, regions and cities have stepped up their collaboration with the European Parliament with the first joint meeting of the European Committee of the Regions' ENVE Commission and the European Parliament's ENVI Committee on 13 October.
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Women's rights: local and regional authorities are pivotal to speed up progress
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Local and regional leaders urge the EU to recognise them as strategic partners in the new Gender Equality Strategy and to integrate gender equality in the next EU long-term budget 2028-2034 to advance women's rights across all EU regions.
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Engagement at local and regional level is key to the EU’s energy transition
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Regions and cities have stressed that empowering local and regional authorities with adequate resources, competencies and political support is key to achieving the EU’s climate targets and a just energy transition. The opinion adopted by the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 14 October stresses the urgent need to increase production and supply of clean energy within the EU to ensure competitiveness and security of supply while decarbonising the energy sector and simultaneously addressing energy poverty.
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Nature credits can help EU regions finance biodiversity projects but not replace EU financing for environment action
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Regions and cities have highlighted the potential of nature credits in bridging the estimated EUR 37 billion financing gap to tackle biodiversity loss and nature degradation. However, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) stresses that nature credits can't replace existing EU support for biodiversity protection and restoration, such as the LIFE programme that has been axed in the European Commission's proposal for the next long-term EU budget. The opinion adopted at the plenary session on 14 October also calls for robust safeguards, transparency and independent monitoring to avoid greenwashing and ensure that nature credits are not used as an offsetting instrument.
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