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Regional Policy and Climate Change, 2010
Description
Austria
Austria has identified climate-change adaptation and mitigation as a top emerging challenge in
implementing its regional policy framework.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic has identified as a top-emerging issue for its regional policies the improvement of the economic and environmental potential of its regions, the revitalisation of its
decaying districts and the sustainable development of its rural areas.
France
The current round of regional development plans (CPER, contrats de plan États-Régions) for
2007-13 now contains a carbon-neutrality objectives: any infrastructure project financed under
a CPER that leads to the generation of emission (a highway, for example) must be offset by
other projects that will reduce emissions (like public transit, for instance). The French government’s national climate change framework is also being planned using an urban lens: the Grenelle de l’Environnement provides for the extension of the existing climate-energy plans, the
strengthening of environmental assessment components in urban planning, and the inclusion
of anti-urban-sprawl objectives, measures to limit greenfield development and the development of eco-friendly districts/neighbourhoods in urban planning approaches. In light of pending
legislation in the Grenelle II process, the voluntary nature to date in France of local-scale
greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories will be modified. Article 26 of the Grenelle II text lays the
groundwork for mandatory GHG inventory reporting for urban areas greater then 50,000 people, public entities larger than 250 employees and private entities with more than 500 employees. The required inventories for urban areas are to be used in the development of a Plan
Climat (Climate Action Plan) and are equally required for cities larger than 50,000 people.
Germany
Germany will focus part of its regional policy approach to implementing the EU cohesion policy
on reconciling climate-change objectives with its goals for regional economic growth.
Greece
Greece identifies climate change as a key emerging issue in its regional development policy
framework.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, within the framework of Regional Development Agencies, a new performance framework for local authorities incorporating climate objectives, as well as new local
transport legislation, which gives more authority to municipalities in transportation policy.
European Union
The European Union itself, under the French presidency in 2008, expressed the need to incorporate a territorial-based approach to climate change, to mainstream climate-change issues in spatial development policies at all levels of government in the Union and to integrate
risk-management considerations into spatial development policy, including risks to the environment.
Australia
Australia has identified climate change adaptation and mitigation as its top emerging issue for
regional policy design and implementation. Indeed, as part of its regional policy framework
Australia has recently introduced a Climate Change Action Fund to assist regions and communities in adjusting to a low-pollution future as well as a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
for Australian households.
Canada
Infrastructure investment policies focus to a significant degree on green infrastructure initiatives from public transit to water, wastewater and solid waste and community-based renewable energy systems. Infrastructure investments reflect regional circumstances, especially in
programming that requires the support (and investment) of the provincial government for a
project in a given region to receive federal funding. Federal infrastructure programming is implemented outside the regional development policy framework, even if it is often delivered
regionally through the federal Regional Development Agencies. Federal sectoral support in
areas that affect climate change, such as support for eco-friendly housing projects of for new
technologies for energy generation, for example, are also applied a-spatially across Canada,
outside the country’s regional economic development policy framework.
Japan
The central government is currently pursuing a “Compact City” urban greening policy because
of the positive externalities on the environment. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions is a positive outcome of Japan’s strategies to affect a modal shift away from private motor transport in
its urban agglomerations, whose main aim is to reduce congestion and costs to business activity and productivity.
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Regional Policy and Climate Change, 2010
Description
Japan
(cont.)
Under the Compact City policy framework, the central government is focusing on generating a
more compact urban structure with its 2006 revisions to its City Planning Act. These revisions
introduce measures to control sprawl through more stringent land-use planning and development regulations. A related initiative, the Comprehensive Urban Transport Strategy, aims to
ensure that citizens in urban areas can live with less dependence on the automobile, by targeting investments at light rail/light rapid transit and by zoning to combine functional activities
related to commerce, housing and industry around light rail stations. Under this strategy, city
administrations are encouraged to modify their own transportation initiatives to favour public
transport over road construction, with assistance from the central government. At the same
time, as a means to promote a “race to the top”, the Japanese government has introduced the
recognition of an “Environmental-Friendly Model City” as a means to share best practices relating to the promotion of a compact urban form and lower GHG emissions among urban centres across Japan. The first urban centre to receive the designation was Kitakyushu-city in
2006.
Source: OECD, Cities and Climate Change, Paris 2010, pp. 217-218.
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