The Impact Report 2023, which this year is called “Uniting Leaders, Driving Change”, recognises the Basque Government’s leadership during the annual political meeting of European regions held in Brussels last June

The report by the Under2 Coalition also mentions that at the annual meeting it was agreed that there is a need for increased cross-regional collaboration on resilience and nature-based solutions, fair transition and green jobs. The ministers and officials represented in the Under2 Coalition called on states to allow regional governments regular and direct access to national and international decision-making forums to ensure that climate legislation is not duplicated, and that the reality of each region is taken into account in the legal frameworks and coordinated actions of each state.

The annual meeting was attended by ministers, councillors and secretaries of state from the European regions that make up the coalition: Andalusia, Baden-Württemberg, Basque Country, Catalonia, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Navarre, North Rhine-Westphalia, Scotland, Västra Götaland and Wales. Ambassador Fuentes Milani, Deputy Permanent Representative of Spain to the EU, called for action to keep the 1.5 degree target in place. In this regard, the Committee of the Regions commended the European regions present at the meeting for their efforts to include citizens in their strategy to boost climate engagement.

One of the Under2 Coalition’s main milestones last year was the participation in the COP, for the first time, of local and regional councils in Dubai, with the first Local Climate Action Summit as part of the official programme

The Under2 Coalition report also notes, as a highlight of 2023, that for the first time, states, regions and cities were fully represented at the Dubai COP in December, with a Local Climate Action Summit organised by Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of the official programme. It showed the impact that subnational governments are having in the field and how much they could do with more support. This was a response to a historic demand from the Basque Country and other regions with advanced climate action to build another model of multilateral governance where the voices of local and regional governments would be heard and taken into account.

The Under2 Coalition is already working towards the COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November 2024, with the aim of picking up the pace and working more with member governments.

About Under2 Coalition

The Under2 Coalition is part of the Climate Group and, since it was founded in 2015, is the largest network of subnational governments committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 – or earlier. Today, the coalition represents 177 individual states, regions, provinces and subnational governments along with several other national and subnational entities: a total of more than 270 actors, totalling more than 50% of global GDP.