On 8 February, during the The Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM)-commission meeting in the framework of the Mediterranean Worlds Forum, Vincent Chauvet, member of the Renew Europe Group at the European Committee of Regions and Mayor of Autun (France), focused on climate action from the bottom up. The meeting, taking place in Marseille (France) was organised by France’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs within the program of the French Presidency of the European Council.

Chauvet focused on local action taking the stage during the “Climate action in the Mediterranean: on the road to Sharm el-Sheikh” panel, as European Committee of the Regions rapporteur for the file Stepping up Europe’s 2030 climate ambition towards COP26 and as member of the official Renew Europe CoR delegation to the COP26.

“COP26 continued to build a path to sustainability, and I hope COP27 will reinforce this process. The main success factor is citizen engagement and I want to emphasize the important role of semi-formal institutions, such as municipal citizen’s councils, local advisory bodies and citizen’s conventions” he stated.

“ARLEM has made climate action in the Mediterranean a priority in its action plan, and the Committee of the Regions with its ‘green campaign’ proposes to accelerate climate action at the local level because local governments are often more ambitious in their actions and objectives” he added.

Local authorities implement 70% of climate change mitigation measures and 90% of climate change adaptation policies. “But our rhythm of adoption of these policies is slower than climate change” Chauvet asserted.

ARLEM was set up in 2010 by the European Committee of the Regions together with territorial associations active in this context allowing elected representatives from the three shores of the Mediterranean to represent their local and regional authorities politically, including before the EU and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), maintain political dialogue, and promote interregional cooperation.