Regions for Sustainable Change Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works Project INTERREG IVC Margarita Atanasova DG “Regional Policy and Management Systems”

INTERREG IVC  Operational Programme INTERREG IVC is a part of Objective 3 - “European territorial cooperation” under the EU Cohesion policy.  INTERREG IVC enables cooperation between regional and local authorities from different countries in the EU27, Norway and Switzerland. Partners from other countries may join with their own resources.

OBJECTIVES The main objective of the programme is to improve the effectiveness of the regional development policy in the fields of innovation, knowledge economy, environment and risk prevention as well as to contribute for the economic modernization and the growth of the European competitiveness

PRIORITIES  Priority 1: Innovation and knowledge economy (177 mln euros EFRD)  Priority 2: Environment and risk prevention (125 mln euros EFRD)  Priority Technical assistance (EFRD contribution - 19 mln euros);

BENEFICIERIES In order to be eligible to EFRD funding under INTERREG IVC, beneficiaries have to be public authorities or bodies whose expenditure is considered as public expenditure. This applies especially to bodies governed by public law.

The programme supports two different types of interventions:  Regional Initiative Projects initiated by regional actors aiming to exchange experience in a specific policy field in order to identify good practice and to develop new tools and approaches for implementation.  Capitalization, including Fast Track projects in order to ensure hat good practice identified, finds way into the Convergence, Regional Competitiveness and Employment and EU Territorial Cooperation programmes.

BUDGET The INTERREG IVC budget is 405 mln euros, the contribution of EFRD is 321 mln euros and the rest has to be covered by the partners.

Contact unit The national INTERREG IVC contact unit is DG “Programming of the regional development” in the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works  Asia Hristova – tel ,  Irina Rangelova – tel ,  Stefan Cheshmedjiev – tel ,

Regions for Sustainable Change – The partnership  Regions for Sustainable Change (RSC) is a three-year partnership of 12 organizations from eight EU member states  As RSC brings together regions at different levels of preparedness to tackle climate change, the partners are willing to learn from one another, to exchange experiences, and to share the results of their efforts.

WHAT LIES BEHIND RSC?  Type of intervention: Regional Initiative Project  Priority: Environment and risk prevention  Sub-theme: Natural and technological risks (including climate change)  Partnership: 12 partners from 8 countries  Duration: Oct 2008 – Sep 2011  Total budget: 2,099, €  Lead partner: REC for CEE

About the regions The surveyed regions are diverse in terms of population, size and economy. By far the largest is Piedmont, Italy, with over 4 million inhabitants. Several regions have between 1.5 and 3 million inhabitants — Lower Silesia (Poland), Central Hungary and the North Great Plain (Hungary), South West Bulgaria and the Liguria and Le Marche regions in Italy. Others have just over 500,000 inhabitants (Cornwall, UK) or fewer (Malta; La Rioja, Spain; and Burgenland, Austria)

WHO WE ARE?

How it all began… The idea behind the RSC project first arose during the implementation of the INTERREG IIIC project Greening Regional Development Programmes (GRDP), which ran from July 2004 to October 2007.

How it all began… In 2007, seven of the GRDP partners expressed an interest in continuing the successful cooperation. As climate change is a priority issue for the regions, they decided to create a partnership to promote the move towards a lowcarbon economy in order to ensure economic, social and environmental well-being. The proposal was accepted and a total budget of EUR 2,099, was approved. Project activities were launched at a kick-off meeting held in the REC Conference Center in December 2008.

What are the aims of the RSC project?  The overall objective is to develop the regions’ potential to stimulate mitigation and adaptation to climate change and to promote sustainable socioeconomic development.  The project will help the regions to achieve this goal by analysing current regional practices and by providing innovative tools and guidance to combat climate change on a regional level.

What are the aims of the RSC project?  The capacities of regional authorities will be built by the exchange of good practices and experience on climate change risks and options for mitigation and adaptation.

WHY THE PROJECT IS IMPORTANT? Climate change threatens socioeconomic development: the RSC project support regions to tackle climate change through unlocking the potential of regional development programmes. Low-carbon investments pay in more ways than one: the RSC project shows that low-carbon growth is not only an environmental necessity, but also an economic and social opportunity. Through regional networking and cooperation, the RSC project stimulates innovative practical solutions for achieving low-carbon economies on a regional level. The RSC project builds capacity of regional authorities to focus on innovative policy approaches and tools to combat climate change at the regional level. The RSC partnership will serve as a model for other regions, promoting a Europe-wide shift to climate-friendly economies.

OUTPUTS

THE REGIONAL CLIMATE CONFIDENCE INDEX GHG emissions per capita GHG intensity (ratio of GHG emissions to GDP) 1. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Final Energy Consumption (FEC) per capita Energy intensity (ratio of energy consumption to GDP) 2. Energy Consumption In energy production capacity In consumption 3. Renewable Energy Measures the extent to which policy and planning processes for climate change are in place 4. Policy Frameworks The capacity and effectiveness of the regional authorities to manage climate change issues 5. Institutional Capacity Awareness and readiness of the population and key stakeholder groups for climate change related actions 6. Socio-Political Aspects For financing climate change-related measures 7. Financial Instruments

WHAT IS NEXT?  A toolkit containing indicators and benchmarks for tracking and measuring climate confidence (September 2010)  A macro-economic analysis of three regions’ carbon economies (March 2011)  A capacity-building programme aimed at transfer of good practices (2010 – 2011)  A methodological handbook to support regions’ efforts to become low-carbon regions (June 2011)

PROJECT SLOGAN AND LOGO 21 Slogan for the project: Regions for Sustainable Change — Showing the way to a low-carbon future (for European Regions) Logo of the project: “Time for change in direction.”

1ST ISSUE OF THE NEWSLETTER  Finalized end of June  Distributed in mid -July  For the distribution, a mailing list was developed (with key stakeholders)  Currently cc. 600 newsletters distributed  Translated versions (Bulgarian, German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish) are in production

RSC WEBSITE –  Finalized design: June  Website in place: September  Content:  About the project  Partners Profile  News  Events  Contacts  Partner area  Documents  Forum

THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION! Contacts and information: Margarita Atanasova, coordinator of the RSC project, MRDPW TEL.: