Spring reception of the NRW regions: On the European Green Deal and its implementation in the regions

Münsterland e.V. discusses with representatives from politics, business and society

Climate neutrality and energy security, circular economy, environmentally friendly mobility, sustainable food, protection of ecosystems: The European Green Deal has many facets. Around 200 stakeholders from politics, business and society discussed the content and its implementation in the regions as well as current developments on 27 February (Tuesday) at the Spring Reception of the Regions in the state parliament in Düsseldorf. Münsterland e.V. was also present as one of the ten partner organisations of the network.

André Kuper, President of the NRW state parliament, welcomed the guests. "Strong regions in Europe are the backbone of democracy. We need close regional and cross-border cooperation in order to tackle the many challenges of our time - for sustainable industry and agriculture, modern transport infrastructure and climate neutrality. Only together can we initiate these important processes."

European Green Deal as an economic strategy

The keynote speech was given by Kurt Vandenberghe, Director-General for Climate Action at the European Commission. "The European Green Deal is our economic strategy. The ecological transformation is not just an ecological agenda, but also a financial and economic one. Only with sustainable, innovative business models and the decoupling of economic growth and resource consumption can we remain economically successful in the long term and maintain our standard of living. This requires high levels of investment, particularly at the beginning, but these will pay off economically in the medium and long term. We want to support companies in these investment decisions and reduce bureaucracy."

"The green and digital transformation in the context of the European Green Deal is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The success of the transformation will be decided in the organisation on the ground, in the regions," emphasised the board members and managing directors of regionen.NRW at the event.

Klaus Ehling, CEO of Münsterland e.V., added: "As a region that is close to nature, we in Münsterland are doing everything we can to focus on climate protection and work together to curb climate change - including with the 'Münsterland ist Klimaland' campaign. Ultimately, however, we can only tackle this challenge by working together with all relevant stakeholders, whether locally, nationally or globally. This is why it is so essential for us to engage in dialogue on this topic at both state and European level. The regionen.NRW association offers the ideal framework for this."

Over beer and pretzels, the regions engaged in intensive dialogue with the guests after the impulses and presentations.

www.regionen.nrw

Further information

The regionen.NRW association has been in existence since 2013. It strengthens cooperation between the regions and consolidates strategic cooperation with the state government. The association comprises the Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier and the nine regional management organisations: Region Aachen Zweckverband, Bergische Struktur- und Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft mbH, Regionalmanagement Düsseldorf - Kreis Mettmann, Region Köln/ Bonn e.V., Münsterland e.V., Standort Niederrhein GmbH, OstWestfalenLippe GmbH, Regionalverband Ruhr and Südwestfalen Agentur GmbH. The office is located at Münsterland e.V.