The ENCORE conference is being held in the Dutch region of Gelderland from 27 to 29 September; the YouthCORE and The Future of Us youth meetings, in whcih two Basque youth representatives have taken part, have been held in the run-up to the event

After the official opening by the Dutch Minister for the Environment, Vivianne Heijnen, the ENCORE 2023 conference continued with two thematic panels: the first, on the EU Climate Change Adaption Mission; and the second on the best regional practices in the circular economy. During the second panel, the Ihobe General Manager, Alexander Boto, went over the main projects that the Basque Country, as an advanced region in the circular economy, is leading in this field. Specifically, he explained Circular SME, the programme to support small and medium-sized enterprises; the private-public partnership initiative with the Basque corporations of the Basque Ecodesign Center; and the European ICEBERG project to recover construction and demolition materials to drive the second materials market.

The other members of the panel alongside Boto were the Minister for the Environment of the host region of Gelderland, Helga Witjes, and the regional ministers of Västra Götaland (Sweden) and Central Denmark (Denmark), Madeleine Jonsson and Ulla Holm, respectively.

At the end of the session, the Arnhem Declaration was published, named after the capital of the Gelderland region, which stressed the important of international and interregional cooperation to make decisive decisions when tackling climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the transition to a circular economy.

Three decades of networking

ENCORE, the acronym for the Environmental Conference of the Regions of Europe, was set up in 1993 as a political platform and forum to bring the political leaders and officials of the European regions together every two years to discuss the main environmental concerns, agree common positions, and influence community policies, by passing on the view of the regional governments to the European Union authorities.

The ENCORE network currently consists of 122 regional governments, with priority lines of action in climate action, the circular economy and biodiversity.
The Basque Country has been part of the ENCORE network since it was founded and is currently on its Executive Committee until 2024. The work of this network contributes to the effective application of EU environmental policies at regional level.

Youth participation

During the week in the run-up to the ENCORE conference, the YouthCORE conference, for the young representatives of each member region, and the innovative "The Future of Us", focused on the energy transition and the circular economy, were held. The event has brought together more than five hundred political and business representatives, researchers and young people from different fields to reflect on the sustainable future of Europe, and in which two Basque youth representatives, María Lertxundi and Mikel Llona, members of the Basque Youth Council, also actively participated.

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