- Climate change
The Basque Country recognised by the UN as an international benchmark in climate resilience and environmental innovation
The United Nations (UN Climate Champions) has this month recognised the Basque Country as one of the leading regions in climate resilience worldwide. The accolade is thanks to the RegionsAdapt initiative, coordinated by the Regions4 network, which has highlighted the Basque Government’s commitment to environmental innovation. The Basque Country has been included as an inspirational case study, along with others including Catalonia, Scotland, Jalisco (Mexico), Lombardy (Italy) and South Australia.
The report specifically mentions the existence of the Basque Ecodesign Centre, a private-public partnership focusing on ecodesign and the circular economy, in the ‘Fostering green innovation for a climate-smart and regenerative economy’ category. One of the main milestones of this partnership has been the launch of an online tool, the Climate & Circularity Calculator, to measure the carbon, environmental and circularity impacts on organisations, products and services, by means of a unified data approach.
The UN Race to Resilience campaign highlights the Basque Ecodesign Center as an example of private-public partnership
As regards the SMEs’ access to financing, the recognition also includes the Basque List of Clean Technologies, as a ‘trailblazing fiscal tool that incentivises investment by the private sector in high efficiency and low emission technologies, offering a deduction of 45% in corporation tax on the investment cost of the eligible equipment’, as highlighted by the aforementioned report.
The Basque Country’s inclusion in this global campaign bolsters its role as a benchmark region in climate action and showcases its collaborative governance model, which brings institutions, municipalities, research centres and citizens together around a common goal: to anticipate the impacts of climate change and to build a more resilient society.
The Race to Resilience campaign seeks to increase the resilience of 4 billion people vulnerable to the climate risks by 2030, and the Basque Country is an active part of this global movement thanks to its membership of RegionsAdapt.
Source: Ihobe
