By Kay Scrimger
October 26, 2009

Conference of Mayors Vice President Burnsville (MN) Mayor Elizabeth Kautz participated in a high-level discussion on climate change October 7 in Brussels, Belgium at the October Plenary Session of the European Union (EU)’s assembly of regional and local government representatives – the Committee of the Regions (CoR).

In her remarks Kautz described what U.S. mayors are doing on climate protection. “I am very pleased for the opportunity to speak before you, because we share the same vision for our planet. U.S. mayors stand solidly with European mayors as well as mayors across the globe in recognizing that climate disruption poses an urgent threat to the economic and environmental health of our communities. We must all work together to highlight the importance of local leadership; in fact, we must roar like lions to get our message through,” she said.

“Although our national government did not join the 141 nations that ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2005, U.S. mayors have stepped up with successful, effective strategies for climate protection to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets. In effect, mayors in the United States ratified the Kyoto Protocol in their own way, pledging commitment to its goals even in the face of our national government’s inaction,” she continued.

“Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels created the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and announced on February 25, 2005, that 141 U.S. mayors—representing the 141 nations that were signatories—had already signed it. Today, one thousand mayors in our country have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and we believe that more will join us as we move closer to Copenhagen,” Kautz said.

“U.S. local leaders have a real sense of excitement, energy, and creativity on climate protection, and mayors truly changed the political climate in our country on this issue,” she said.

“In 2007, U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran and then-President Trenton Mayor Douglas N. Palmer created the Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Center. This center analyzes, evaluates, and summarizes trends in climate change efforts and strongly supports mayoral leadership to move the local and national climate protection agenda forward,” she pointed out.

Committee of the Regions President Luc Van den Brande presided over and moderated the climate protection panel discussion. Joining Kautz on the panel were Copenhagen City Council Deputy Chair Mona Heiberg, Tuscany, Italy President Claudio Martini, and Regional Tyrol Assembly President Herwig van Staa.

After her presentation, Van den Brande described Kautz as a mighty voice for climate protection, “the lion that roars.” He thanked her for describing the great efforts of U.S. mayors to combat climate change.

Van den Brande pointed out that the European Union has made climate change a top priority. Its targets are contained in the EU’s Climate Action and Renewable Energy Package, which commits member states to curb their CO2 emissions by at least 20 percent by 2020.

Signatories to the commitment sign “The Covenant of Mayors,” which is open to cities in Europe of all sizes. Local leaders agree to submit a Sustainable Energy Plan within the year after signing. These towns and cities are then expected to provide periodic public reports outlining the progress of their action plans.

According to Pedro Ballesteros Torres, Program Manager of Energy Efficiency for the European Commission, a leader behind the Covenant of Mayors, the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement inspired the European Union to create the Covenant of Mayors, their own climate protection agreement.

After her session, Kautz and Van den Brande joined members of the Committee of the Regions and other regional and local representatives on the Explanade in front of the European Commission headquarters to take part in a media event designed to highlight the role of local and regional governments in addressing climate change.

An over twelve-foot high inflatable globe printed with a map of European regions will be sent from Brussels to Copenhagen as a visible reminder to negotiators of the local and regional commitment to tackling climate change. Leaders marked that commitment by signing their name across their region on the map. Kautz signed for “The U.S. Conference of Mayors” in large letters.

Kautz then participated in a press conference with Van den Brande, Ballesteros Torres, and Andri Piebalgs, Commissioner of the Committee of the Regions for Energy.

Piebalgs said, “I am delighted that our colleagues from across the Atlantic have agreed to consider ways in which we can work more closely together toward the shared goal of adapting to climate change at the local and regional level. The Covenant of Mayors, which is strongly supported by the Committee of the Regions, now has more than 700 signatories from across the European Union. Its message to Copenhagen—that regions and cities are already working tirelessly to tackle climate change at the local level, in many cases going further than their national governments—will be all the more clearly heard and understood if combined with the voice of The U.S. Conference of Mayors.”

Conference of Mayors CEO and Executive Director Tom Cochran said, “We appreciate the European Union’s invitation to the Committee of the Regions meeting in Brussels. We look forward to considering ways we can cooperate to further highlight the critical role of local leaders in climate protection. And we especially want to articulate this message of local leadership as we head toward he United Nations Climate Protection Conference in Copenhagen in December.”

Local and regional authorities in the EU’s 27 member states implement about two-thirds of all European Union legislation. The Committee of the Regions (CoR) gives local government representatives a say in the content of these laws. Bodies of the EU—The European Commission, which initiates EU laws, and the Council of Ministers, which determines the final content of the legislation (usually in tandem with the European Parliament)—are obliged to consult the CoR on a wide range of policy areas, including the environment, employment, and transportation.