Get ready for the EU Sustainable Energy Week 2023
Events & networking opportunities you should not miss!
Local governance
Fossil-free cities
Community energyAbout
Every year, the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) brings renewable energy practitioners, companies, academics, local governments representatives and civil society organisation to Brussels (and online!) to discuss the hot topics for the EU energy sector.
The main theme for the 2023 edition will be “Accelerating the clean energy transition – towards lower bills and greater skills”. Registration should open on April 18th.
To help you navigate the programme, we highlighted the in-person events we are organising or contributing to…and, if you want to kick off EUSEW with us, do not miss our members’ get together!
19th June: Engaging people in energy projects
Workshop from 2 to 4:30 pm
During this participatory session local governments will share their experience on citizen enegagement: how to favour the emergence of bottom-up initiative? How to reach out to citizens and mantain their commitment? How to support the project until it is viable? Experts from different organsations will provide advice and facilitate the exchange.
20th June: Home renovation & energy solidarity workshops and a discussion on local skills for the energy transition
Workshop from 2 to 6 pm
This peer-to-peer workshop is a unique occasion to learn from the successful experience of six French renovation one-stop shops – the regional public or semi-public organisations offering integrated advisory, technical and financial solutions for the energy renovation of housing. They make ambitious energy renovation simpler and accessible to all homeowners, reducing their energy bills in average by 50%. To date, they have carried out global renovations of more than 6,000 dwellings, representing an investment of €132 million, and have issued 1,300 loans for a total amount of €40 million.
This successful model is worth replicating throughout Europe – find out how and get tailor-made advice from the experts during this workshop!
Workshop from 9 to 1pm
During this session, city experts will share how they currently design and test business models with a social purpose. We will look into entrepreneurial opportunities and challenges of energy cooperatives in Eeklo (Belgium) and Heerlen (The Netherlands), energy communities in Valencia (Spain) and one-stop-shops in Roznov (Czech Republic). We will also present other European experiences around energy solidarity and a more democratic energy market.
The topics we will delve into are:
- Focus 1: Business models – scenarios for the community
- Focus 2: Public policy and legal frameworks: challenges for municipalities to implementing solutions to alleviate energy poverty
- Focus 3: The co-creation challenge & engagement strategies
Panel from 2:30 to 4pm
The main objective of this session is to address the urgency of labour and skills shortages in the European local public administrations to accelerate climate neutrality at the local level. To do so, the session will bring evidence of what the needs of municipalities are in terms of staff capacity and upskilling, and it will present some local, national and European initiatives that are responding to these needs.
21st June: Discussions on sufficiency and energy security and capacity building on energy poverty
Panel discussion from 9:30 to 11
Sufficiency is the missing pillar of the Energy Union for a just and ambitious transition toward climate neutrality. According to the latest IPPC report, the concept refers to a set of “policy measures and daily practices that avoid demand for energy, materials, land and water while delivering human wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries”.
This session will explore its potential to reduce the EU’s resource consumption while lowering consumers’ bills. The speakers will clarify the difference with other levers such as efficiency, show its potential in figures and present concrete measures already implemented by cities. The reactions of the European Commission and the Parliament will help to understand how sufficiency can be integrated into European climate and energy policies.
Panel discussion from 4:30 to 6 pm
The objective of this session is to discuss how local energy ownership can contribute to a just and secure energy transition. This is especially important now that the EU’s dependence on imported energy sources and implications of this on energy prices have become even more visible because of the energy crisis.
The session will focus on how the active participation of citizens and local governments in the energy market can be empowered through the implementation of the current EU legislation for
energy communities and be impacted by the upcoming reform of the EU Electricity Market. Special attention will be paid to the integration of the business model of energy communities into the energy market and how they may play a part in delivering a cost-efficient and green energy supply, reducing energy poverty and promoting energy security for all.
22nd June: Workshop on the use of space in cities and discussion on multi-level energy and climate dialogues
Workshop from 9 to 13:30
In a context of scarce urban land, climate emergency and the artificialization of land, many urban spaces remain paradoxically underused. In addition, for many years, cities have been built with monofunctional buildings. If the way of conceiving the city has evolved, we are still consuming far too many resources including land and building materials. Our cities need to go through a resource diet and the use of space in cities is one of the sectors that must radically change. Join this workshop to learn, get inspired and exchange with municipalities and organizations active in exploring alternatives to urban sprawl.
Panel discussion from 15:30 to 17
The update of the National Energy and Climate Plans, ongoing until June 2024 is fundamental to reach EU 2030 energy objectives. All relevant actors (including local authorities, NGOs, citizens, academia, industry, the finance sector, etc.) should be involved in the definition and implementation of energy and climate policies.
During this session, we will share the different multi-level dialogues implemented in some of the EU Member States. We aim to inspire and invite as many Member States as possible to create and implement structures fostering multi-level governance, starting from multi-level dialogues.
