The territorial agenda of the European Union: Progress for climate change mitigation and adaptation?

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The Territorial Agenda of the European Union (Territorial Agenda) document agreed by EU Member Statesat Leipzig in May 2007 aims at strengthening territorial cohesion in Europe and supporting the growthand jobs and sustainable development objectives of the EU's Lisbon and Gothenburg strategies. It seeksto foster and reconcile sustainable economic growth and job creation, as well as social and ecologicaldevelopment in all EU regions. In light of these aspirations, this article assesses: whether the TerritorialAgenda document can be considered to represent progress for climate change mitigation and adaptationwhen its policy goals are set against the climate change dimensions of its predecessor document,the European Spatial Development Perspective; the evidence and impacts of climate change in Europe;and the EU's wider evolving policy response to climate change. It concludes that the Territorial Agendacan be seen to indicate some progress in the treatment of climate change, even if the territorial cohesionthinking and spatial model that underpin the document continue to be viewed, it seems, primarily asprerequisites for achieving a European social model which aims to couple sustainable economic growthwith the achievement of social and economic cohesion.