On 14 September 2011, cities and towns across Europe came together to release the ICLEI European Convention Declaration. They called upon the EU to engage with and support local and regional authorities in their activities to implement the Europe 2020 Strategy. Using this declaration as a starting point, Deputy Mayor of ICLEI member city Hannover (Germany) Hans Mönninghof, has described how he would like to see ICLEI and its membership tackle additional important issues.

Mönninghof calls for stricter measures, including penalties for states that fail to meet targets and strict regulation of fuel and energy consumption. He further advocates a withdrawal from nuclear energy and the introduction of stricter safety measures with regard to nuclear sites, indicating terrorism and the problem of nuclear waste disposal as factors necessitating such a move. Mönninghof also believes states need to provide cities with adequate funding for their duties and cities must give priority to conserving existing buildings rather than building new ones.

A move away from the privatisation of energy and water to a communal utility system, where sustainable development takes absolute priority over profit, also forms part of Mönninghof’s vision. Finally, he is critical of certain aspects of the EU research policy in the area of climate protection, namely the funding of biofuel for cars and the storage of carbon dioxide from coal power plants. Members interested in exploring these ideas further can contact: Hans.Moenninghoff@Hannover-Stadt.de or ICLEI Regional Director for Europe, Gino Van Begin: gino.van.begin@iclei.org.

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