A warm welcome to Verona, Poti, Liepaja, Grand Paris Grand Est and VVSG

We are delighted to welcome 5 new members to the network

Local governance

Participative governance

Mobility

Renewables

Sustainable food systems

Education

3 cities: Liepaja, Poti and Verona, a metropolitan urban community: Grand Paris Grand Est and an association of cities: VVSG – Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities, 3 different member profiles from 5 countries: Latvia, Georgia, Italy, France and Belgium strengthen the network and multiply initiatives on the ground for a successful energy transition.

Inspiring actions seen through the prism of our 5 Hubs

Experimenting with participatory local governance

Poti and another Georgian city took part in a European project enabling them to increase the involvement of civil society in the decision-making process. The cities were thereby able to boost their capabilities by introducing participatory governing principles to improve the quality of services. Poti then devoted a page of its website to civic and inclusive participation, in particular via the civil advisory council whose aim is to ensure the participation of citizens in the implementation of local autonomy and the public’s involvement in the city’s activities.

To find out more about the different forms of civic participation

Decarbonising the city through transport

Liepaja implements policies for the reduction of carbon emissions. It has made significant progress by reducing CO2 emissions by 46% since 2006. It is involved in the PUMA project – Planning Urban Mobility Actions – which supports small- and medium-sized cities in developing integrated action plans for transport in order to achieve sustainable and climate-neutral mobility.

The city of Liepaja is also one of the EU mission’s “100 climate-neutral and smart cities”.

When cities invite citizens to take on the challenge of renewable energy communities

Recently, the city of Verona organised a meeting with citizens with the aim of “rebuilding communities through energy”. The information meeting discussed the potential of renewable energy communities to promote a more sustainable and local energy economy.This also provided an opportunity for citizens to discover what exactly a renewable energy community is and how to set it up.

Watch this space for Verona’s first steps in the implementation of a civic energy community!

Eating well close to home

GGrand Paris Grand Est has just published a guide “Bien manger près de chez moi” for residents about quality food and nutrition, eating well to protect their health and their environment. This guide lists sales outlets and gives advice, and is looking to make healthy and environmentally-friendly food available to all. This initiative is a part of the commitments of Grand Paris Grand Est’s Climate Air Energy and Health Plan.

Raising awareness of sustainable development goals

The VVSG is the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities in Belgium. It supports local authorities and involves local stakeholders in decision-making. One of its main missions focuses on living together and, with this in mind, it develops initiatives in favour of SDGs with the aim of promoting knowledge about them and making them more visible.

It has published 50 fun and inspiring examples to raise awareness in municipal employees and citizens.