Ronan Dantec, Senator for the Loire-Atlantique (France); Joost Venken, Deputy Mayor of Hasselt (France); Stephan Brandligt, Deputy Mayor of Delft (The Netherlands), and Andrew V. Cooper, Member of the Committee of the Regions and Member of Kirklees County Council (UK) - panellists at the "Energy Union: local leadership driving the transition" event held within the EUSEW16 - agreed that the energy transition is going to take place at local level, highlighting the key role local governments should play during the climate package negotiations.

"It is crucial that local governments and their networks share efforts in defining the strategy. Energy is not only consumed but also produced by local authorities," said Ronan Dantec. Joost Venken remarked that the urgency for change has encouraged citizens to take action, as they feel it takes too long to change frameworks. "There are too many obstacles regarding the legal framework, making it difficult to enable the transition between local and national level, and this is a challenge for local governments."

Stephan Brandligt stated that "energy transition is not only about energy, but also about social affairs and social innovation. It is therefore also about economy and local jobs, and it is necessary to make this connection for a successful transition". Andrew V. Cooper explained how in Kirklees they link the energy transition to income regeneration. The City plan for action focuses on reducing energy poverty and achieving the highest energy efficiency standards. Toni Vidan, Vice-president of the TEN Committee, European Economic and Social Committee, and moderator of the discussion, emphasised the relevance of building capacity in new EU member States. The event was organised by five networks "“ CEMR, Climate Alliance, EnergyCities, EUROCITIES, and ICLEI.

For more information, read the networks' recently issued joint statement on the Energy Union Governance. more   16 June 2016 Procura+ Awards invites applications from public procurersThe Procura+ Awards recognise successful sustainable and innovative public procurements that lead to the improvement of public goods, services, processes, and infrastructure. Public procurers are invited to apply for the awards until 9 September 2016. To be recognised, the procured solutions must have a strong potential for replication and should be an excellent showcase for using sustainable and innovative procurement instruments.

The awards are separated into three categories: 'Sustainable Procurement of the Year' recognises the outstanding environmental, social and economic impacts of the procurement; 'Innovation Procurement of the Year' acknowledges an impressive procurement of innovation and the public authority as a launch customer; and 'Tender Procedure of the Year' rewards procurers that took an exceptional approach to sustainable and innovation procurement.

Winners will receive free entry and a presentation at the next EcoProcura conference, a case study on the SP Platform and PPI Platform, publicity in a variety of ICLEI publications, a trophy and the title 'Best sustainable procurement/innovation procurement/tender procedure of 2016', one year free participation in the Procura+ Network, and the right to use the Procura+ Award logo in their email signature.

For more information and to apply, visit procuraplus.org.Image copyright: Image (ICLEI European Secretariat) more

» Publication Date: 17/06/2016

» Source: Iclei Europe

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