Energy Cities is the european association of local authorities in energy transition. The association created in 1990 represents now more than 1,000 towns and cities in 30 countries.

What's new for HeatNet pilot sites?
by Julien Joubert
25 Mar 2019 at 12:36am

On 14th and 15th March HeatNet NWE partners met in Plymouth, UK. What an opportunity to give you an overview of the progress of the pilot projects!
Plymouth is now finalising the technical and economic study for its future 4th generation district heating and cooling (H&C) network. It will be a combination of ground source heat pumps and a combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Trial drillings have been performed and confirmed the possibility to reach an aquifer in underlying limestone (...)

Spain is reforming its Energy and Climate Policy. A ray of hope ?
by Miriam Eisermann
21 Mar 2019 at 9:01am

It's been eight months that a new government in Spain is positioning the country to become one of Europe's renewable energy leaders. Since then, former environmental activist Teresa Ribera in charge of the newly created Ministry for Ecological Transition has made strong moves. Fernando Ferrando from the Spanish NGO Fundacion Renovables gives an insight into the most recent legislative pieces that could bring change to the Spanish energy system. He suggests that the national plans are good, (...)

Germany creates a climate cabinet
by Tatjana Veith
19 Mar 2019 at 1:08am

Is climate now a top political priority or is the government coalition prioritising its internal climate?
Thursday, March 14th 2019, Berlin: the coalition government in Germany has met in order to prepare a legally binding climate roadmap to reach its 2030 climate targets. As a reminder: the 2020 targets will be missed and several studies show that the 2030 targets are also destined to fail ? despite a coal phase out planned by 2038 ? if wind and solar targets do not increase considerably. (...)

Grenoble, a laboratory for citizen participation
by Béatrice Karas
18 Mar 2019 at 3:00am

Since 2014, the mayor of Grenoble and his team have been working on transforming the city into a true ?transition city?, in the most democratic way possible. Grenoble works as an urban laboratory and is implementing a slew of initiatives related to democratic transition.
In the face of energy and climate challenges, the city of Grenoble is implementing various tools aimed at kick-starting the environmental transition. Several ideas are currently being tested:
Supporting citizen initiatives (...)

Climate change is everyone's business!
by Sara Giovannini
12 Mar 2019 at 8:43am

Climate change is not news?we have known since the ?80s and our governments have been discussing it for a very long time. But despite the Kyoto protocol in the '90s and the Paris Agreement in 2015, countries have been not doing enough to protect our health and the planet's.
As pointed out by the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) in a recent study - you can read a short analysis by Energy Cities - this lack of action is driving new grassroots and local initiatives trying to influence (...)

Policy brief : Make the EU Greta'gain
by Claire Roumet
8 Mar 2019 at 3:21am

Claire Roumet, executive director of Energy Cities
As spring is coming closer, you can still hear the sound of the youth protesting in the streets, waiting for us to take action, forcing us to face our own inconsistencies between the rhetoric and actual changes in society. I thought it was time for me to carry out a quick analysis of the gap between fine words and legislative proposals.
And more specifically, an analysis of the gap between current talks around the EU's long-term strategy, (...)

The city of Bottrop is transitioning from a coal and steel city into an innov...
by Tatjana Veith
7 Mar 2019 at 7:07am

LESSONS LEARNT December 21st, 2018, Bottrop, Germany: An era comes to an end, with the extraction of the last piece of coal from the Prosper coal mine ? active for more than 150 years and one of Germany´s last hard coal mine.
The former coal and steel city Bottrop is leading by example, showing how to transform this big change into an opportunity. With the Innovation-City Ruhr: Modellstadt Bottrop Project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund and the State of North (...)

EU elections manifesto
by Adrian Hiel
28 Feb 2019 at 4:55am

Our demands to future EU leaders - out now !
The Energy Cities European Election manifesto is now out !
The manifesto is directed at incoming MEPs for the European Elections at the end of May, 2019. In it, we outline four ?quick wins' to help MEPs hit the ground running here in Brussels as well as four ?legacy issues' ? more complex and ambitious goals to help them build a legacy of a sustainable Europe.
The overall message of the manifesto is clear ? we have the technology and resources to (...)

GET INVOLVED! What is your role in advancing the energy transition ?
by Tatjana Veith
26 Feb 2019 at 7:23am

REN 21, the Renewable Energy Policy Network of the 21st century, will publish the first-ever renewables in cities global status report during Energy Cities annual conference at the 2019 ICCA. In order to showcase the recent developments of renewable energy in cities and the role played by local authorities in advancing the energy transition, we need your help. Why this report?
We know that cities and local action play a key role in the energy transition. However, there is little data-based (...)

Solar panel rental: Lorient offers an innovative financing model
by Béatrice Karas
25 Feb 2019 at 11:43pm

The City of Lorient and Oncimé have achieved great success with a ground-breaking solar panel rental system.
Oncimé is a joint-stock company, with more than 100 citizen-shareholders, dedicated to developing renewable energy sources. Through its actions, it aims to contribute to tackling global warming and directly or indirectly create non-relocatable local jobs... among other things.
The result of a partnership between Bretagne Énergies Citoyennes and the City of Lorient, this innovative (...)