GREECOTerritorial Potentials for a Greener Economy

ESPON Open SeminarAalborg, Denmark

14 June 2012

European Territorial Evidence for EU Cohesion Policy and

Programming

Different approaches on the concept

• UNEP emphasises the social dimension alongside the environmental and economic dimensions.

• The OECD focuses on the economic perspective (green growth)

• The EEA focuses on the economy-environment interface over the social dimension.

• The EUROSTAT has not a definition as the concept it is not statistically operative.

• ESPON defines the concept as an “approach to transform production and consumption processes and patterns”

The ‘international consensus’ on green economy

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Different measuring frameworks

UNEP OECD

EEA

GREECO approach on the green economy concept

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1. Characterisation of the degree of development of the green economy at the regional level within ESPON space.

2. Detailed analysis of the driving forces, barriers and enabling conditions behind green growth, paying particular attention to the territorial factors.

3. Assessment of regional potentials for green(er) economies, based on the presence of the abovementioned factors.

4. Production of regional typologies by overlapping such green growth potentials (output of point 3) over the present situation of green economy (output of point 1).

What will GREECO do

How will GREECO achieve its objectives

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2.1

2.2

2.4

Den

sific

atio

n/st

reng

then

ing

2.2.2. Sectorisation

2.2.4. Contextualisation

2.3

2.2.1. Territorialisation

2.3.1. Typologisation

2.3.2. Implication

2.1.

2. O

pera

tiona

lisat

ion

2.1.1. Conceptualisation

2.5 Policy

2.2.3. Regionalisation

Ch 1. Defining the territorial dimension of the green economy:• How can the green economy be defined from a territorial

perspective?

Ch 2. Data availability• How can the green economy be characterised in a context of

relative scarcity of indicators at the regional level?

Ch 3. Defining policy alternatives• What kind of national and EU level enabling conditions are

important for regional and local governments and local business entrepreneurs and citizen groups in their endeavours developing Green solutions?

GREECO research challenges

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GREECO case study areas

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GREECO will produce territorial evidence relevant for the Common Strategic Framework, providing inputs to:

– the thematic objectives mentioned in the Common Strategic Framework, and;

– remarkably, also to the definition of the Partnership Contracts and programmes.

GREECO contribution to the Common Strategic Framework

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Relevant elements mentioned by the Commission to be taken into account in the design of the PC:

1) An analysis of the Member State’s or region’s development potential and capacity >>links to >> GREECO will quantify regional potentials for a greener economy.

2) An assessment of the major challenges to be addressed by the region or Member State, including the identification of the bottlenecks and missing links, innovation gaps, the lack of planning and implementation capacity etc. >>links to >> GREECO will produce regional typologies based on green economy potentials and current conditions.

3) horizontal coordination; and 4) vertical coordination >>links to >> GREECO will elaborate a comprehensive policy analysis of green growth policies

5) Partnership Contract and programmes based on appropriate result indicators. >>links to >> GREECO will produce new synthetic indicators related to the green economy.

GREECO contribution to the Partnership Contracts

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New indicators:

CO2 emission intensity from European regions. 2008 (kg/€).

Example of GREECO contributions (1/2)

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Territorial potentials for a greener economy

Per capita wind resources (provable wind at less than 8€c/kWh)

Example of GREECO contributions (2/2)

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Ob4. Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economyGREECO will produce new indicators and tools for assessing compliance with the 20/20/20 targets at the regional level.

Ob5. Promoting climate change adaptation The existence of specific measures and legislation on risk prevention and management at the regional level will be included in GREECO analysis as one of the indicators conditioning the enabling conditions for green growth.

Ob6. Protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency Decoupling is at the core of green economies. GREECO will seek to identify the most relevant territorial implications linked to resource efficiency and reflect on recent trends in ‘decoupling from land take’, mainly through sectoral analyses and case studies.

GREECO contribution to the thematic objectives of the CSF

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Thank you for your attention

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