Drawing on 29 years of cross-border cooperation, the "Espace Mont-Blanc" ("Mont-Blanc area") on the Franco-Italian-Swiss border is striving to adapt its territory by seeking joint responses to the impacts of climate change.
The French presidency of the EU strategy for the Alpine Region, launched on 4 February in Lyon, intends to move into higher gear regarding the ecological transition within this transnational space among the most vulnerable and under threat due to climate change.
On 22 November 2019, the Pas-de-Calais Department hosted the closing conference of the PASSAGE project in Arras. The MOT took part in it.
This practical guide, published by the secretariat of the Sahel and West Africa Club, has been produced with assistance from the MOT. It offers many insights on the legislative and financial levers for developing cross-border initiatives on resilience to climate change in West Africa.
Local and regional elected representatives are calling on the European Commission to provide more incentives at their respective levels to promote cross-border cooperation in the area of risk reduction. An opinion of the European Committee of The Regions to this effect was adopted on 27 June in Brussels.
The Strasbourg Eurometropolis has launched a project aimed at recovering the heat produced by the Kehl steelworks in order to provide energy for 4,000 households in Strasbourg within two years. This innovative project is a first in Europe at the cross-border level.
On 14-15 May, at the invitation of the Pas-de-Calais Department, 24 territorial authorities that border on 11 European straits gathered in Boulogne-sur-Mer. The purpose: to take stock of ten years of working together within the European Straits Initiative.
The cross-border territory of the “High Valleys” is located in the heart of the Alps, between Savoie, Piedmont and the High Alps. It consists of 13 groups of municipalities, 147 rural mountain districts and 270,753 inhabitants spread over 6,350 km2. A cross-border strategy "The High Valleys – Smart Destination" was drawn up in order to group together the common development priorities for the coming years.
The 2019 European Conference on the Energy Transition took place on 22-24 January in Dunkirk, bringing together nearly 3,500 participants around the topic “Committed and mutually-supportive territories”. The MOT contributed to the discussions by organising a workshop illustrating three very concrete examples of cross-border cooperation in the area of the energy transition.
Under the Interreg programme ALCOTRA on the Franco-Italian border, two types of plan can be implemented: integrated territorial plans and integrated thematic plans. Integrated territorial plans are made up of a series of projects organised around several themes for a specific cross-border territory.
The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has launched a call for projects aimed at funding decentralised cooperation projects supported by French local authorities in partnership with foreign local authorities.
At once a Caribbean island, an overseas collectivity of the French Republic and an Outermost Region (OR) of the European Union, the Collectivity of Saint Martin has resolutely placed regional integration at the heart of its development strategy.
The characteristics, both geographic and political, of our territory justify the necessity for strengthened cooperation. The Collectivity of Saint Martin’s ambition is that, through strengthened regional cooperation, our territories become examples in the sectors where they possess “added value”, in developing, for example, infrastructure, Research and Development (R&D) notably in terms of the circular economy, the blue economy, sustainable agriculture, renewable energies, digital technologies, and earthquake-resistant and hurricane-resistant materials...
The members of the Working Community of the Pyrenees have formalised an innovative new instrument for cross-border cooperation and development, named “Pyrenean Strategy”. Its priorities include the preservation of the Pyrenees’ biodiversity, the adaptation of territories to global warming, combating desertification, and access to mobility.
The General Council on the Environment and Sustainable Development, which is responsible for advising the government in the different fields of competence of the French Ministry for Ecological Transition, has devoted a special edition of its magazine "Pour mémoire" to cross-border issues in the areas of transport, the environment and energy.
The city of Nice and the Nice-Côte d'Azur Metropolis are engaged in many cooperation projects within the framework of the ALCOTRA and MARITTIMO European programmes, in very varied areas such as: territorial development, strengthening links between urban and rural territories, innovation and support for businesses, sustainable development and combating climate change, healthcare and social inclusion, youth, culture and strengthening digital networks.
MAREA ("Modélisation et Aide à la décision face aux Risques côtiers en Euskal Atlantique" – Modelling and Assistance with Decision-Making faced with Coastal Risks in Atlantic Euskal) is a cross-border research project aimed at gaining a better understanding of storm episodes on the Basque coast, in order to predict risks of coastal flooding and erosion.
The 2017 report of the ONERC – National Observatory on the Effects of Global Warming entitled "Towards a second plan for adaptation to climate change in France – Issues and recommendations" has been published. The MOT wrote section 32 of the report on the cross-border dimension.
The 2018 edition of the European Conference on the Energy Transition took place on 30-31 January and 1 February in the territory of Greater Geneva, a cross-border first for this event that every year brings together more than 3,500 professionals in the areas of energy and sustainable development. The conference also provided the opportunity to sign a cross-border agreement on air quality in Greater Geneva.
In light of the elaboration of a new European strategy for the “outermost regions” (ORs), the Regional Development Commission of the European Parliament published a report in March 2017 to promote cohesion and development in the ORs by applying article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) in an innovative and positive manner.
Every year, the MOT publishes a dossier highlighting exemplary cross-border projects along French borders.
Within the context of the regional accord for the application of the Espoo Convention (1991) in a tri-national framework, the French-German-Swiss Upper Rhine Conference has published a guide to procedures for cross-border consultations concerning projects, plans and programmes with significant impact on the environment.
On 3 June, the MOT took part in the conference entitled "Cross-border cooperation to enhance renewable energy in the EU" organised by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the World Future Council at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
In April, the European programme LIFE launched a new call for projects with two focuses: the environment and action for climate.
