Empowering central and eastern Europe to meet energy and climate commitments
Central and eastern Europe (CEE) countries have lagged behind in meeting the EU’s climate goals compared with Western Europe. A major reason is a slow development of Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) by CEE municipalities. A SECAP provides a comprehensive overview of a municipality’s energy situation and greenhouse gas emissions, defines concrete actions to reduce emissions, identifies energy efficiency measures, adopts renewable energy targets and presents actions to adapt to climate change.
Capacity building at the local level is key
The development of SECAPs in CEE countries has been sluggish because many municipalities lack awareness of and experience in sustainable energy planning. They need specific expertise, capacity and access to resources. There is also the need for outreach strategies or procedural changes to better deal with the CEE’s unique circumstances, mainly due to history and geography. To address these issues, the EU-funded CEESEU project brings together 11 partners from Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Romania and Slovenia to build the capacity of public administrations to develop SECAPs. The overall aim is to promote increased energy efficiency, sustainable energy, reduced carbon emissions and improved climate change adaptability.
Getting everyone involved in climate change mitigation and adaptation
Project partners are designing materials and tools to train local public administrators in developing and implementing SECAPs. The resources will take into account CEE communities’ particular circumstances. Municipalities will be shown how to engage with various stakeholders and interact with all levels of government in developing SECAPs and will receive guidance on how to finance and implement SECAP actions. The CEESEU network will enable increased communication and collaboration between public administrators in Central and Eastern Europe and the rest of the EU.
Taking energy and climate obligations to the next level
CEESEU is supporting the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) and other EU actors on how to better reach and serve the needs of CEE municipalities in developing and implementing SECAPs. CoM is one of the most significant urban development organisations in the world. To date, more than 11 000 local and regional authorities across 55 countries have voluntarily committed to implementing EU climate and energy objectives. They must develop a SECAP within the first two years of joining CoM. Signatories are strongly encouraged to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 55 % by 2030. In the long term, they commit to climate neutrality by 2050, with a minimum GHG reduction target of 80 %. Ending in October 2023, CEESEU intends to make several major impacts. About 650 GWh of energy savings are foreseen. The capacity and skills of over 645 public administrators in CEE municipalities are expected to improve. The project will better align national and regional development plans with SECAPs in the 10 CEESEU countries and improve national and regional sustainable energy and energy efficiency policies. Finally, it will attract over EUR 25 million of sustainable energy and climate change adaptation investments.
Keywords
CEESEU, SECAP, CEE, municipality, climate change, central and eastern Europe, CoM, public administration, Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan, Covenant of Mayors