Frugal and (self) sufficient cities, by will or by force!

The ecological emergency, exacerbated by the economic backlashes of the war in Ukraine, requires structural changes of our production and consumption patterns. However, until today, public policies have mainly focused on the production-side and on technical changes, neglecting the demand-side that meets our needs and affects our way of living. Over the years, the core of climate debates has been the decoupling of economic growth from emissions, emphasising a decarbonised production that could have been avoided in the first place.

The Chapter 5 on Demand, services and social aspects of mitigation in the last IPCC report on Mitigation of Climate Change is clear: what can we avoid, shift and improve in our societies to reduce emissions? Ready-made solutions do not exist, they must be built collectively. Clean production and efficiency improvements will only bring us so far, we need to think and act together on what must be stopped or done differently.

For the launch of the ‘Resource-wise and socially-just local economies’ Hub, Energy Cities organises a webinar series that will provide alternatives and new narratives to inspire cities to rethink local social and economic models.

This webinar series will be centred on the topic of SUFFICIENCY: a circular production-consumption principle that acknowledges the boundaries of our planet, in favour of lifestyles that set the standard for adequate wellbeing, without precluding it to other communities or exacerbating climate change.

These webinars will attempt to answer the following question: How can local authorities avoid emissions, support only climate-compatible activities and shift local activities so that they respect the ecological and social boundaries of their territory?

REGISTER NOW

• #1 – What emergency energy saving measures should my city take? – 15 June 2022 (11:00 – 12:30) – Speakers:
  • Julie Purdue, Head of the Mission for the Ecological Transition of the City of Lyon (FR)
  • Todor Tonev, Energy Advisor to the City of Sredets (BG)
  • Lydia Korinek, Policy Consultant at ZOE Institute for Future-fit Economies, Co-Author of the Publication “Demand-side solutions to address energy shortages”
• #2 – How do we make Sufficiency desirable? Changing cultures and organizations – September 2022 (exact date and speakers tbc)
• #3 – Local ecological transition and jobs: supporting only climate compatible activities and the creation of new local economic activities – October 2022 (exact date and speakers tbc)
• #4 – New local compasses for territorial policies – how can new social and well-being indicators shape public policies? November 2022 (exact date and speakers tbc)
• #5 – Overconsumption and degrowth – December 2022 (exact date and speakers tbc)
• #6 – Using our (scarce) resources intelligently: pooling of equipment and buildings – January 2023 (exact date and speakers tbc)
• #7 – Open debate on sufficiency and ideas for new discussions and concrete projects – February 2023 (exact date and speakers tbc)

Register HERE.

A single registration is needed for all webinars; the link to access the webinars is always the same.

You will get informed about all updates and receive the connection details prior to each webinar.