Registration is now open for the Local Renewables Conference 2016: Energising the Smart City and Region, set to take place in Freiburg (Germany) and Basel (Switzerland) from 26 "“ 28 October 2016. Those who register now can take advantage of the reduced Early Bird fee. Organised by the City of Freiburg, the City of Basel and ICLEI Europe, the conference will bring together leading and learning cities, policy-makers from European and national governments, business, finance institutions and researchers.

The EU Energy Union recognises the importance of putting cities and regions at the centre of making energy more secure, affordable and sustainable. European cities are searching for innovative ways of meeting energy demands, whilst responding to citizen needs. The programme for the event aims to address such questions as what role can, and should, smart technologies play in the search for improved energy efficiency and quality of life in a city? What are the opportunities and limitations of new technologies for urban energy transformation? And what is the role of social innovation and citizen engagement?

The conference will be interactive and engaging, featuring an interesting variety of panels, topic-specific workshops and study tours in Freiburg and Basel. The tours will provide participants with a hands-on look at urban development projects. Updates on the conference can be found on Twitter by following @LR_Series and the hashtag #LocalRenewables.

To register for the event, click here.Image copyright: Image ( ICLEI European Secretariat) more   27 May 2016 Mayors meet Environment Ministers at G7 session in JapanMayors from G7 countries gathered on 15-16 May in Toyama (Japan) at the G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting Parallel Session "The Role of Cities" to discuss local climate action and to ask their national governments to promote cities' efforts on climate and energy while enhancing the low carbon transition. The session marked the first time a G7 process focused on cities and engaged mayors in the consultations with ministers. The mayors provided the cities' perspective on the direction in which the seven leading economies should go on climate, energy and resilience.

The Parallel Session, organised by the Ministry of the Environment in Japan (MOEJ), called on G7 countries and the European Union to further strengthen and enhance mechanisms to boost the innovative efforts of cities, as well as initiatives on city-to-city cooperation to advance sustainability practices on the ground. G7 countries and the EU are also expected to work together with cities and international and intermediary organisations such as ICLEI to enhance the role of cities.

"The mayors gathered here for the G7 Environment Ministers' Meeting to share their good practices have been recognised to be not just local leaders, but also climate leaders," said Wolfgang Teubner, ICLEI Europe Regional Director. "We hope this event will open the path to a more permanent exchange between mayors and ministers on the global agendas of sustainability and climate action. Two milestones were set last year: the United Nations resolution on the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. The leaders of the seven largest economies now have a responsibility to lead by example, keeping SDGs high on their agenda and agreeing to scale up and speed up the implementation of the Paris deal."

For more information, visit iclei.org.Image copyright: G7 Environment Ministers and Mayors in Toyama, Japan (BMUB) by "Inga Wagner" more

» Publication Date: 30/05/2016

» Source: Iclei Europe

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