ICLEI Europe

Cities and regions recognise the ambitious policy reforms that have established the European Union as a global leader in the circular economy over the last decade. However, both material use and waste generation show no signs of a significant reduction in the EU: this indicates that the EU has not yet transitioned to a low material intensity and less wasteful circular economy.

ICLEI Europe, as a network of local governments, welcomes the opportunity to reflect upon the 2014 EU Procurement Directives, and in particular their effectiveness in promoting strategic and sustainable public procurement (SPP). Our submission highlights both the impact achieved by SPP in the period 2016-24, and challenges associated with the current regulatory framework.

Public Procurement must evolve from an administrative process into a strategic instrument to advance EU competitiveness, innovation, resilience, climate, circularity and social objectives. While the 2014 framework enables such use in principle, the Commissions evaluation and ICLEI Europes experience show that implementation remains limited: lowest-price awards dominate, strategic procedures are rarely used, sectoral…

ICLEI Europe welcomes the Commissions initiative to develop a Right to Stay Strategy. The initiative comes at a crucial moment for Europe, as many territories face overlapping pressures: demographic decline, ageing, lack of economic opportunities, climate risks, environmental degradation, housing unaffordability, weak access to services, and declining trust in public institutions.

ICLEI highlights that local and regional governments are uniquely positioned to respond to interconnected and complex environmental, economic and social challenges such as housing. Considering that around 90% of today's buildings will still exist in 2050, European policies and investments in this field should focus on high-quality, sustainable, and energy-efficient housing that is affordable and supports inclusive…

ICLEI Europe welcomes the European Commissions initiative to develop an integrated European Climate Resilience and Risk Management Framework. Building on decades of support for local and regional governments, ICLEI stresses the need for a bold, cross-cutting approach that safeguards communities and nature, secures prosperity, and boosts Europes competitiveness amid growing climate risks.

It is imperative that local governments have a say in the allocation of renewable energy acceleration zones. Given the very high number of local governments in Europe, and particularly in some Member States, such participation could be facilitated on the regional level by the relevant planning authorities with the input of local/regional energy agencies.

The revision of the Governance Regulation is a timely opportunity to strengthen delivery of the EUs climate and energy objectives by improving implementation, investment clarity and coordination across governance levels.

ICLEI Europe welcomes the Implementing Act and appreciates the transparent process that guided its development. However, to support effective and successful implementation, we would like to offer several key recommendations: - Survey/transport model in indicator SU.2 (Number of trips per month made by persons who have their usual residence in the geographical area, broken down by the following four travel modes…

In regard to the next Multiannual Financial Framework, ICLEI Europe highlights that for reforms and investments to deliver tangible results across all European territories, two conditions are essential: robust multilevel governance and territorially sensitive performance indicators. Without these, the EU risks misaligned priorities, weaker implementation, and growing territorial disparities.