The new integrated Covenant of Mayors on Climate and Energy was officially launched yesterday (Oct. 15) at the European Parliament in Brussels, with hundreds of cities representatives in attendance. Bringing together the objectives of the Covenant of Mayors and Mayors Adapt initiatives, the Covenant of Mayors on Climate and Energy will focus on three pillars: the 2030 horizon, the integration of mitigation and adaptation, and the international dimension.
The new Covenant was created as a follow-up to a recent consultation conducted by the Covenant of Mayors Office and the European Committee of the Regions, where 97% of cities surveyed called for a new target beyond 2020, and a majority supported the integration of mitigation and adaptation goals. Following this process, signatory cities now are invited to pledge support to the new EU 2030 target of at least 40% CO2 emissions reductions by 2030, a joint approach to addressing mitigation and adaptation, and the global extension of the initiative.
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The European Green Deal has made the environment and climate change the focus of EU action. Indeed, climate change impacts are already increasing the pressure on states and societies; however, it is not yet clear how the EU can engage on climate security and environmental peacemaking. In this light, and in the run-up to the German EU Council Presidency, adelphi and its partners are organising a roundtable series on “Climate, environment, peace: Priorities for EU external action in the decade ahead”.
In January 2020, the German Federal Foreign Office launched Green Central Asia, a regional initiative on climate and security in Central Asia and Afghanistan. The aim of the initiative is to support a dialogue in the region on climate change and associated risks in order to foster regional integration between the six countries involved.
Climate change will shift key coordinates of foreign policy in the coming years and decades. Even now, climate policy is more than just environment policy; it has long since arrived at the centre of foreign policy. The German Foreign Office recently released a report on climate diplomacy recognizing the biggest challenges to security posed by climate change and highlighting fields of action for strengthening international climate diplomacy.
A high-level ministerial conference in Berlin is looking at the impact of climate change on regional security in Central Asia. The aim is to foster stronger regional cooperation, improve the exchange of information and form connections with academia and civil society.