Alexander Boto, the Ihobe General Manager, and Natalia Uribe, the Regions4 Secretary General, have signed the renewal of the agreement between both entities, which seeks to ensure that the regions are heard at the leading international events in areas such as climate action, biodiversity and the 2030 Agenda.

Regions4 was established in 2002 at the World Summit in Johannesburg as the Network of Subnational Network for Sustainable Development, and currently has 46 members from 21 countries and 4 continents. Right from the start, the Basque Country was one of the driving forces of the initiative, to which numerous regions quickly signed up.

The Basque Country will continue to chair the Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development until 2024

In March 2019, the Basque Government took up the Chair of the North and, subsequently, on 1 July of that year, of the Secretariat General, during a meeting when the name of the organisation was officially changed, from nrg4SD to Regions4 Sustainable Development. The Basque Country's period chairing the network has marked a new era with a renewed leadership for the entity.

Regions4 strives to actively participate in the main international agendas of sustainable development, biodiversity and climate change. It is the voice of the regions in the negotiations with the United Nations, the European Union and at the leading international events where the major global consensuses are adopted regarding sustainable development.

The role of regions and local governments

Subnational governments play a fundamental role in the progress towards climate neutrality, as they have unique knowledge of their communities that allows them to adapt the decisions and strategies to to the circumstances of their population and their territory, and are therefore most effective in achieving the goals.

As a decentralised structure of the public administration, according to the UN, over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions and up to 90% of the measures to adapt to the impacts of climate change are the remit of local and regional authorities. Those levels of government apply 70% of all European Union legislation, which accounts for third of public spending and two thirds of public investment.

Ihobe, 40 years of leadership

The end of the Basque Country's time as the chair of the network coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Basque Government's environmental management agency, which, in the words of Alexander Boto Bastegieta, "is a benchmark in the design and deployment of the environmental policies of the Basque Government”.

That leadership means the agreement signed between both entities is particularly convenient, as it ensures the continuity of the active role of the Basque administration to make the voice of the regions and local governments be heard in the decision-making centres in the areas of climate action, local sustainability and biodiversity conservation.