​On 5 July the Committee of the Regions adopted the opinion of Cllr Andrew Cooper on climate governance post 2020 that aims to contribute to the UNFCCC COP 24 taking place in Katowice, Poland in December.

Members backed rapporteur Andrew Cooper’s proposal to bridge the current emissions gap through his concept on Locally Determined Contributions (LDCs). Without the formal involvement of local and regional governments, a gap will remain between the announced climate pledges and the achievements needed to keep temperature rise well below 2°C.

Kirklees councillor, Andrew Cooper, declared: "Since the adoption of the Paris agreement, we have seen a rising status for local and regional governments in international climate talks. It is now time to acknowledge multi-level governance and formalise the role of local and regional in global climate governance. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) fall short in reaching the Paris agreement goals of limiting temperature increase to well below 2 degrees, let alone 1,5.  We propose a system of Locally and Regionally Determined Contributions to complement national pledges

With regard to dialogues to be established between national and subnational governments, the EA member pointed out that it is crucial that actions undertaken at subnational level is measured and taken into account as " action that is not measured, is not encouraged, nor valued"

"We certainly welcome dialogues with subnational level of governments as they are of great importance as they allow LRAs to share their ambitions and positions. But dialogues are not monologues. Local governments need to be heard but also need to be responded to. We expect LRAs to be truly involved in the definition of national energy and climate plans and for their contributions to be taken into account in governance of the Energy Union.  Similarly on a global level we believe that  outcomes of the Talanoa Dialogue should make their way through the COP negotiating text and should not be just be a one off, nice story- telling exercise, it should continue beyond COP24".