The new Commission takes office with urban sustainability high on the agenda

President Ursula von der Leyen started a second mandate with a new team of Commissioners on 1 December. Urban sustainability remains high on the agenda, with the enforcement and implementation of the European Green Deal as a priority, and an upcoming policy agenda for cities whose pillars will be affordable and sustainable housing, climate action, digitalisation, mobility, social inclusion and equality.

Sustainability aspects correspond to Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, and the Commissioners Jessika Rosswall, for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Dan Jørgensen, for Energy and Housing, and Wopke Hoekstra, for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth. The policy agenda for cities is in the portfolio of Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms.

In the mission letters to the Commissioners designate, President von der Leyen specified the priorities for this term, where the Green Deal remains high: “The success of this new Commission will be measured against our ability to meet the targets and objectives we set, notably as part of the European Green Deal”. 

President von der Leyen highlighted to Teresa Ribera the priority to “bring down energy prices, [...] invest on clean energy infrastructure and address energy poverty across Europe as part of addressing the housing crisis.” She also urged “to ensure that we make the most of Europe’s natural capital and develop a clean, circular economy. We need to provide incentives for nature-positive actions and ensure that we invest in our biodiversity. It will also be essential to embed the environment-health nexus in all of our policies.”

To stay the course on the goals of the European Green Deal, Commissioner Rosswall mission letter refers to focusing on “enforcement and implementation of existing legislation related to environment, biodiversity and zero-pollution, taking into account the importance of simplification and dialogue with stakeholders” and to do it via “incentives, investment and effective, simple implementation”. 

In addition to this, “a Circular Economy Act will be adopted with measures to create maket demand for secondary materials and establish single market for waste, notably in relation to critical raw materials” and a single market for sustainable products, as part of a wider Clean Industrial Deal. 

The Commission will prioritise “the design of incentives for nature positive actions and private investments, and work on nature credits, to boost private finance for nature”. 

The European Water Resilience Strategy “will address water efficiency, scarcity, pollution and water related risk. It will aim to enhance the competitive innovative edge of our water industry, develop clean tech, take a circular economy approach and include proposals to digitalise water management, cycles and utilities”. 

The New European Bauhaus will be developed further, “as an enabler of the transition, notably focusing on innovation, bio-based materials and circularity, housing and the built environment, financing, as well as building the community across Europe”. 

Finally, Wopke Hoekstra “will lead the work on a European Climate Adaptation Plan to support Member States, notably on preparedness and planning and ensure regular science-based risk assessments. This should, for example, cover the impact on infrastructure, energy, water, food and land in cities and rural areas”. On decarbonization, the Commission enshrine the 90% emission-reduction target for 2040 and strengthen the framework for a social and just transition. 

Other priorities of the College related to urban environment are to work on a resilient and competitive and sustainable tourism sector, a Sustainable Transport Investment Plan, a strategy for EU ports, an action plan for affordable energy prices, an action plan for homegrown clean energy, a strong social dimension of the Energy Union, a European Affordable Housing Plan and a European Strategy for Housing Construction.