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Sustainable territories in Europe: Intra-regional cooperation is the key

Date

08 Oct 2010

Sections

Regional Policy

MORE4NRG partners in search of an efficient model for the creation of sustainable territories at the European level

Pescara - Montesilvano (I), 8 October 2010.

Willing to find concrete solutions for building up sustainable territories, the Assembly of European Regions (AER) together with Abruzzo region (I) and Abruzzo Regional Energy Agency (ARAEN) organised a MORE4NRG conference on intra-regional cooperation in the field of energy. By welcoming 80 participants from more than 30 regions, Kenneth Backgård, chairman of AER working group on climate change and energy and member of Norrbotten County Council (S) reminded that “MORE4NRG project represents one of the best practices at the EU level: thanks to the peer reviews and the following reports we pave the way for strong regions delivering climate friendly and energy efficient policies. Today we are pleased to discuss on how we can include all actors in our regions in this process”.

With the EU 20-20-20 energy goals now incorporated in the Europe 2020 Strategy, it is evident that energy efficient communities can only be achieved if all regional - public and private - stakeholders coordinate their efforts. Many examples show that regions are already working hard to find viable models of intra-regional cooperation. “As a support for the Covenant of Mayors, Abruzzo increases its chance of reducing CO2 emissions by more than 20 % by 2020. Energy efficiency and renewable energy policies cannot only be pursued at one level: regions, provinces and municipalities need to cooperate” said Iris Flacco, Manager of ARAEN. Other good practices were presented including “e5 programme” in Salzburg (A) and Green Energy Municipalities in Oppland (N).

In order to link sustainability and economic growth, sub-regional authorities should also extend their cooperation to enterprises and associations. “We are proud of our close partnership with one of the major private environmental service providers in our region resulting from the project Integra in tackling waste reduction. Thanks to this initiative, every year we produce out of 420.000 tonnes of waste enough electricity to power 50.000 homes. This example shows that an effective cooperation between all private and public actors is the key to guarantee a sustainable future”, said Councillor Mel Kendal, Executive member of Hampshire County Council (UK). Ms Dörte Fouquet, director of the European Renewable Energies Federation, also stressed that “regional and local energy policies should be designed according to private investors’ needs, since investment flows out of governance”.

MORE4NRG project in brief
Bringing together the AER and 11 regions, MORE4NRG aims at strengthening the delivery of regional strategies for renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by exchanging best practices and by developing a monitoring tool for measuring their impact. For more information please visit www.more4nrg.eu 

The Assembly of European Regions (AER – aer.eu) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together more than 270 regions from 33 countries and 16 interregional organisations, AER is the political voice of its members and a forum for interregional co-operation.

AER Contacts
Francine Huhardeaux
Press & Communications Officer
+33 3 88 22 74 49
f.huhardeaux@aer.eu

Valentina Guerra / Antonio Buscardini
Press & Communication Assistants
+33 3 88 22 74 33/44
v.guerra@aer.eu  - a.buscardini@aer.eu
   
Christina Diegelmann
‘Economy and Regional development’ Committee - Senior Policy Coordinator
+33 3 88 22 74 38
c.diegelmann@aer.eu

Justyna Podralska
‘Economy and Regional development’ Committee - Policy Coordinator
+33 3 88 22 74 37
j.podralska@aer.eu