BETA

Activities of Tonino PICULA related to 2020/2074(INI)

Plenary speeches (1)

Cohesion policy and regional environment strategies in the fight against climate change (short presentation)
2021/03/24
Dossiers: 2020/2074(INI)

Reports (1)

REPORT on cohesion policy and regional environment strategies in the fight against climate change
2021/03/04
Committee: REGI
Dossiers: 2020/2074(INI)
Documents: PDF(255 KB) DOC(109 KB)
Authors: [{'name': 'Tonino PICULA', 'mepid': 112744}]

Amendments (33)

Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 17 a (new)
- having regard to European Environment Agency Indicator Assessment on Economic losses from climate-related extremes in Europe published on 20 December 2020,
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas European Environment Agency estimated that between 1980 and 2019, climate-related extremes caused economic losses totalling an estimated EUR 446 billion in the EEA member countries; whereas this is equivalent to EUR 11.1 billion per year and the cumulative deflated losses are equal to nearly 3 % of the GDP of the countries analysed;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas islands, especially small islands, are the most exposed and vulnerable EU territories to the effects of climate change and that they must tackle specific and additional challenges and costs in the transition;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas sustainability should be seen as a balanced approach to bring sustainable growth, social progress and environment together;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas Cohesion Policy is key to support less developed regions or areas, suffering from natural and geographical handicaps, which are often at the forefront of the impacts of climate change and have less resources to face it;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas Cohesion Policy is a crucial tool to deliver a fair transition to a climate neutral economy that leaves no one behind;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas an increase of 1.5 degrees is the maximum the planet can tolerate; should temperatures increase further beyond 2030, we will face even more droughts, flood, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people; the likely demise of the most vulnerable populations - and at worst, the extinction of humankind altogether as pointed out in the EU interinstitutional report Challenges and Choices for Europe;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas islands, outermost and peripheral regions have an enormous potential in the production of renewable energy and are strategic laboratories to implement innovative policy measures and technical solutions to deliver the energy transition, reduce CO2 emissions and boost the shift towards the circular economy;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas Member States have adopted National Energy and Climate Plans and regions should submit a regional plan accordingly to achieve emission mitigation and adaptation, aiming to establish a pathway towards climate neutrality;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I c (new)
Ic. whereas the transition to a climate neutral economy by 2050 can be achieved through a combination of public financing at EU and national levels and by creating the right conditions for private financing;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
4. Highlights the crucial role for Cohesion Policy in fighting climate change and achieving climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest and the intermediate target by 2030 and 2040, as well as the role of local and regional authorities in mitigating and adapting to climate change, in particular through a far-reaching reform of investment policies;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recognises the need to support the territories most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality, avoid regional disparities growing and empower workers and local and regional communities;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Urges holistic regional integration strategies to guarantee sustainable development and mitigate the consequences of climate change by supporting energy transition to renewable sources, biodiversity and climate adaptation; believes that these regional strategies should support civic engagement, locally initiated and owned projects and should boost the cooperation between the regions, also trough cross- border projects; calls on the Commission to provide support and facilitate the cooperation between the regions and exchange of know-how and best practices;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 148 #
11. Calls on the Commission to monitor the progress of national governments and local and regional authorities in addressing climate change; emphasises that an effective involvement of local and regional authorities at national level should be put in place when the European Commission assessment on climate change policies and climate targets is done in the context of the European Semester; stresses the need to enhance the effectiveness and complementarity of ESI Funds in tackling climate change;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 – point 1 (new)
(1) Welcomes policy objective 2 (PO2) of the proposed new Common Provisions Regulation which aims to establish ‘a greener, low carbon transitioning towards a net zero carbon economy and resilient Europe by promoting clean and fair energy transition, green and blue investment, the circular economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation and risk prevention and management'; recalls that ERDF thematic concentration for PO2 would be best served if applied at regional level in order to reflect the different regional specificities when it comes to climate;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Supports the agreement on the multi annual financial framework for the period 2021-2027 that avoids harmful subsidies, supports a full phase out of fossil fuels subsidies, both direct and indirect by 2025 the latest, ensures overall funding and programme priorities which reflect the climate emergency and contribute to mainstream climate actions and to the achievement on an overall target of at least 30% of the EU budget expenditure supporting climate objectives;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11c. Is concerned by the economic losses due to natural hazards and the damage of the EU funded infrastructure projects caused by the weather and climate-related extremes; calls for the support of activities and infrastructure projects that respect the climate and environmental standards and that are more resilient against the natural hazards;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Stresses that it is of the utmost importance to respect in all relevant Cohesion Policy legislation horizontal principles such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a fair and socially inclusive transition, a legally binding climate-related spending target of 30 % and a biodiversity-related spending target at 10 %; stresses, therefore, that a transparent, comprehensive and meaningful tracking methodology should be adopted swiftly, and adapted if necessary during the MFF mid-term revision, for both climate-related spending and biodiversity-related spending;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Encourages the Member States to ensure this complementarity by providing an ambitious territorial application of their national recovery plan, involving all the relevant actors in the regions; further invites the Member States to issue a regularly updated scoreboard measuring the territorial impact of national and European recovery measures, paying particular attention to the contribution of these measures to the fight against climate change;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
12. Welcomes the proposal to top up the Just Transition Fund, including with additional funds from Next Generation EU, and the two additional pillars of the Just Transition Mechanism, namely a dedicated scheme under Invest EU and a public sector loan facility, which will contribute to alleviating the economic effects of the transition to climate neutrality on the Union’s most vulnerable regions; regrets the fact, however, that the top-up amount proposed by the Commission has been cut by more than 2/3 - from 30 to 7.5 billion euros - under the Council agreement on Next Generation EU; underlines that these cuts would jeopardise the fund’s core objectives;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. EUnderlines the key role that islands, in particulars mall islands, outermost and peripheral/remote regions can play in the transition towards climate neutrality, as innovation laboratories for the development of clean energy, if their full potential is unlashed by adequate tools, support and funding; emphasises that islands, in particular small islands with limited governing autonomy, should be able to access sufficient economic resources in order to deliver integrated, sector-coupled and innovative interventions for infrastructure and local economic development;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Emphasises that islands and outermost regions, in particular small islands with limited governing autonomy, are crucial for purposes of research into climate change and biodiversity and should be able to access sufficient economic resources in order to deliver integrated, sector-coupled and innovative interventions for infrastructure and local economic development;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
15. Highlights the need to capitalise on the outcome of initiatives such as New Energy Solutions Optimised for Islands (NESOI) and Clean Energy for EU Islands (CE4EUI) to ensure a functional transition between the 2014-2020 and 2021-2027 programming periods; in this regard, calls on the Commission to produce a user friendly guides for Regional and local governments to have the opportunity to acknowledge and capitalise on consolidated best practices on energy transition and decarbonisation of economies; welcomes the Memorandum of Split, which recognises the leading role for island communities in the energy transition;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Urges the phasing out of public and private investments in highly polluting and harmful industries for which economically feasible alternatives are available, while respecting the rights of Member States to choose their energy mix;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Calls on national and regional programming authorities to maximise the transformational impact on climate and environmental protection during the ongoing development and national and regional EU funds spending plans;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 c (new)
16c. Calls on the Commission to benchmark draft spending plans against highest possible climate ambition;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 d (new)
16d. Welcomes the proposal on REACT EU as it continues and extends the crisis responses and crisis repair measures with additional resources to existing cohesion policy programmes;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 e (new)
16e. Welcomes the efforts of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to revise its energy lending policy and to devote 50% of its operations to climate action and environmental sustainability; calls on the EIB to commit to the sustainable transition towards climate neutrality while devoting particular attention to the regions most affected by the transition;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 f (new)
16f. Welcomes the presentation of the 'Renovation Wave Strategy' as one of the crucial strategies contributing to making Europe climate-neutral by 2050; emphasizes the need to address energy poverty through a programme of building renovation targeting vulnerable and low income households, as part of a wider European Anti Poverty Strategy;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 g (new)
16g. Calls on the Commission to consider referring to the Taxonomy Regulation for private and public investments; points out the need to enshrine the ‘do not significant harm’ principle;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 h (new)
16h. Calls for further investments on sustainable mobility such as railways and sustainable urban mobility for greener cities with better life quality for citizens;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 i (new)
16i. Calls on the Commission to link the assessment of the Paris agreement every 5 years with an assessment of further necessary adjustments in Cohesion Policy;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Underlines the urgent need to further support the principles of circular economy and to prioritise the waste hierarchy;
2021/01/13
Committee: REGI