News report

‘Think European – Act local’: Three EU Presidencies, six cities and many ideas for climate action

by Anselm Bareis and Oliver Hölcke, GIZ/EUKI

Just in time for the start of the German Council of the European Union Presidency, the EUKI project ‘Three4Climate’ is picking up speed. It connects the German with the subsequent presidencies of Portugal and Slovenia and the expectations for the trio presidency could hardly be higher. While plans and strategies for a European economic recovery dominate the current debate in Brussels, the trio presidency has originally committed itself to prioritize climate in the respective programs. The new EUKI project Three 4 Climate aims to translate this spirit into cooperation at all levels of governance. Guidehouse, adelphi and the Independent Insitute for Environmental issues (UfU) implement the project together with the local partners Institute of Social Sciences – Faculty of Sciences University of Lisbon and the Energy Agency of Podravje (Energap). Regarding the participation in the project, each partner city in Slovenia, Portugal and Germany has its very own expectations and planned climate action measures:

Project

What’s next?

The municipalities and the participating schools have shared their experiences, plans and ideas for the upcoming one and a half years in a virtual working-level kick-off workshop in the beginning of June. The second step for the Three4Climate project was a kick-off event with the participation of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and State Secretaries, Mayors and Headmasters from the three countries. During the virtual event, actors from all political levels first met to share their expectations and planned climate action measures.

For the next one and a half years, the project plans an event to connect the local level all the way to the EU level and further participatory activities. These include city study tours for the municipal staff, teacher exchange visits and a competition for students with the option to win a train ride to the trio countries.