Last week, June the 6th, at the annual EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) conference in Brussels, there was held a seminar “Energy plans and roadmaps for sustainable future” initiated by TREA and BPM Business Consulting. The examples of six major successful EU energy-related projects were presented during nearly two hours, sharing their experience in sustainable energy policy creation and inclusion of stakeholders from different levels and institutions.
Although each project is approaching the topic in its own way, there are some highlighted and recurring lessons from project to project. It is important for energy planning, to involve all the stakeholders from the very beginning, and also the politicians should be in the same boat at the beginning of the journey. There are no comprehensive examples of “best practices” as for each region, planning level and goals, the experience depends on a large number of influencers. The speakers pointed out the importance of networking between different regions and levels, as well as courageous engagement – not only in planning, dreaming and setting goals, but also in implementing them.
The session initiated by TREA was inspired by an EU Horizon 2020 programme project PANEL 2050 in which, there has been created a Central and Eastern European Sustainable Energy Network (CEESEN) that brings together the researchers, politicians, NGOs and entrepreneurs from region. The workshop was supported by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 research programme.
Marek Muiste, the project manager of PANEL 2050, leader of the CEESEN Network and a main organizer of the seminar held at EUSEW: Central and Eastern Europe has a strong potential for energy transition to a low carbon economy. The main challenge in the long-term transition process in the region is to create equal policies and equal opportunities for all the stakeholders by not favouring the interests of any particular groups. Seminar introduced the tools and methods to the European forerunners for co-creating inclusive local energy policy. In Tartu Regional Energy Agency, we are looking for new opportunities to include the community into the long-term energy policy, supporting the low-carbon economy in South-Estonia. This is also the main reason for preparing the seminar on energy roadmapping in the “capital of Europe”.
EUSEW is an annual flagship event for energy sector in Europe. Each year, the EUSEW conference, lead by the European Commission with a cooperation of many stakeholders and initiators from all over the region, brings together thousands of stakeholders and enthusiasts from around the world. This year, the focus of the conference was on how to manage the clean energy transition. During three days, more than 60 different seminars, discussions and workshops took place in Brussels, featuring new winds in energy policies, best practices and ideas of sustainable energy.
More information:
https://eusew.eu/energy-plans-and-roadmaps-sustainable-future
The projects presented during seminar: