New start for the European Energy Award®
About
25 years of experience, 1,397 municipalities participating, total population of 46 million involved, and now the Association European Energy Award AISBL which will take over all international activites.
The European Energy Award® was an initiative launched by Switzerland, Austria and Germany (Land NordrheinWestfalen) in 2003. It’s a programme for planning and implementing energy and climate protection policy goals and mesures in municipalities.
Created at the end of December 2016, the Association European Energy Award brings together all national eea organisations and various European Energy Award Gold municipalities as members. The Association offers a platform for the international exchange of ideas and for quality assurance and further development of the tool.
The role of the Association eea essentially consists of coordinating national developments and calibrating and harmonising the work of the eea in order to ensure that a consistent, high standard is achieved at the international level. Another important task is to position the eea internationally, and the Association finally supports the establishment of national eea programmes in new countries.
New countries like the Morocco where two cities have been awarded with the European Energy Award in November 2016: Agadir and Chefchaouen
The city of Agadir has been participating in the Moroccan Jiha Tinou programme since 2012. This programme launched the eea both on the national Moroccan level and in a number of pilot municipalities.
Agadir has since worked towards sustainable municipal development with great commitment and consistency. The city was awarded the eea based on the following measures, among others: the introduction of a comprehensive energy accounting system for the municipal infrastructure and buildings, the development of traffic planning geared towards non-motorised traffic, the completion of pilot projects regarding the conversion of street lights to LED lamps, and the actual conversion of lights to LEDs. The municipality additionally signed the Covenant of Mayors in 2013.
In addition to Agadir, the city of Chefchaouen was certified under the national eea.
