Representatives from European cities leading on sustainable energy actions gathered together in Brussels on Monday 18 March, at a European Commission forum organised by ManagEnergy.

Patrick Lambert, director of European Commission Agency EACI opened the meeting, welcoming the opportunity to present the results of the three Intelligent Energy Europe projects supporting the Covenant of Mayors initiative – City SEC, Regions 202020 and Energy for Mayors. PNEC was represented by Maria Stankiewicz, Anna Jaskuła i Patrycja Płonka responsible for the implementation of Energy for Mayors Project in Poland.

The event’s participants were mainly the representatives of those cities which were involved in:

• ENERGY FOR MAYORS – involved 250 municipalities, supported implementation of 139 SEAPs and produced the first regional SEAP (Valli SOL) whereby targets for energy and C0₂ reduction are formed collectively;
• City SEC – the project consortium of regional development agencies and energy agencies have succeeded in bringing 50 municipalities to the Covenant of Mayors and completion of SEAPs;
• ENNEREG – twinning regions proved to be a successful strategy for enabling the sharing of experiences, and has resulted in the collection of more than 150 good practice case studies of SEAPs’ implementation.

In total 198 local authorities from all over Europe benefited from the implementation of those three projects as they committed to go beyond the EU’s 2020 climate and energy targets.

Next up were the city leaders committed to achieving the EU energy policy targets.

Jan Panek, Acting Director of DG Energy was handed  over 153 SEAPs, including 6 Polish ones developed by Bielawa, Dzierżoniow, Ełk, Niepołomice, Raciechowice and  Władysławowo which were officially presented by Maria Stankiewicz, Executive Director of Association of Municipalities Polish Network „Energie Cités”.

The cumulative results of the sustainable energy action plans are projected to be 2 475 000 MWh per annum of RES production and over 5 320 000 MWh per annum of primary energy savings.

We need more active consumers, said Mr. Panek, and we need to continue to grow the market for energy efficiency and renewables. Final success will be determined by actions on the ground and at the local level. Moreover Director of DG Energy assured assured that the European Commission will continue to support the Covenant of Mayors, and especially the implementation of Sustainable Energy Action Plans.

(foto: ManagENERGY)