• Home
  • About
    • Governance & Structure
    • The AER Executive Board
    • The AER Secretariat
    • Statute & Strategies
      • AER Statute
      • AER Procedures
    • AER stands with Ukraine
    • The History of AER
  • Members
    • Who are AER’s members?
    • Member Directory
    • Join AER!
  • Mutual Learning
    • About Mutual Learning
    • The Knowledge Transfer Forum
    • Working Groups
      • Ongoing Working Groups
      • Past Working Groups
  • Advocacy
    • About Our Advocacy Work
    • The Bureau
    • The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    • AER Political Priorities 2020-2025
    • Intercultural Regions Network
  • Projects
    • About Our Projects
    • Ongoing Projects
    • Look for Partners
    • Completed Projects
  • AER Programmes
    • AER Eurodyssey
    • AER SUMMER ACADEMY
    • AER Youth Regional Network (YRN)
    • AER Observatory on Regionalisation
  • Events
    • AER events
    • Other events

Assembly of European Regions

Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985

You are here: Home / Events / AER events / AER and MORE4NRG bring regional solutions to energy challenge

AER and MORE4NRG bring regional solutions to energy challenge

23 September, 2009 By Editor

AER and MORE4NRG bring regional solutions to energy challenge Sundsvall, Västernorrland (S), 23 September 2009
Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Share this!


Sundsvall, Västernorrland (S), 23 September 2009

Politicians and energy experts from dozens of regions across Europe gathered in Sundsvall, Västernorrland (S) today to strengthen their commitment to developing renewable energy resources and energy efficiency in their territories.
The Assembly of European Regions’ (AER) “Energy Efficiency – Regional Solutions for the Future” conference presented the first results of the INTERREG IVC project MORE4NRG, which brings AER together with 11 partner regions to develop sustainable energy strategies.

“This project perfectly demonstrates that the sharing of best practices among regions – an idea to which AER has always been firmly committed – can unleash new development potential within European territories,” said Håkan Sandgren, AER Committee 1 (Economy and Regional Development) president and county councillor of Jönköping (S). “Such exchange is a primary driver for change in our regions, bringing underperforming energy policies to current standards. It also allows our regions to access the knowledge-based economy more rapidly, in line with the Lisbon Strategy.”

The MORE4NRG initiative recognises that regions play a pivotal role in developing energy efficiency policy and regulations; regions can also provide national authorities with information on what is happening on the ground and assess energy demand at local level. And, since regional authorities are closest to citizens, they are ideally placed to implement awareness raising campaigns that garner public support for the energy efficiency cause.

“How do we convince citizens to change their attitude towards energy consumption? How do we convince companies to invest in sustainable energy solutions? In MORE4NRG we learn from each other’s experiences and successes. There is exchange on different levels, strategic, technical, but also on socio-economic topics,” explained Anne Bliek, chair of the MORE4NRG Monitoring Board and deputy Queen’s Commissioner in the province of Flevoland (NL).

This holistic, hands-on approach to the energy challenge is best demonstrated by the MORE4NRG energy audits, based on AER’s unique peer review methodology. In the project’s first audit carried out in Maramures (RO) this month, an on site visit provided the host region with practical guidelines on creating an effective regulatory framework for the development of clean energies. Policy and technical experts from AER member regions shared their insight on these strategic issues through a series of meetings with local energy stakeholders and numerous field inspections.

Apart from being a forum to exchange energy good practices among the regions, AER’s conference today included interactive workshops on energy efficiency in the agriculture, transport, industry and housing sectors, with special attention paid to public buildings, SMEs and private households. The conference also presented regions with the range of funding opportunities available for project development, including recently established funding grants offered by the European Investment Bank and European Commission.

Sverker Aagren, councillor in the hosting Västernorrland county council, concluded: “I am proud that my county Västernorrland is in a leading position on energy efficiency. Most of all I think the conference provided opportunities for all participants to meet, share ideas and experiences including having an official role in politics.”

 


Background

Sound energy management has been at the heart of AER’s work for several years now. In 2006 and together with the European Federation of Regional Energy and Environment Agencies (FEDARENE), AER established a declaration committing regions to deploy energy efficient practices and alternative energy sources. Two years later and together with 11 partner regions, AER kicked off the MORE4NRG project to help the regions improve their sustainable energy strategies and to create a specific tool that measures their progress towards achieving energy targets. 

For more information: [email protected]

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Follow AER!
Facebooktwitterlinkedinrss

Filed Under: AER events, Completed projects, News Tagged With: Agriculture, Culture, Economy, Energy, Environment, Future of Regions, Good practices, Regional development, SMEs, Sustainable development

← Local government leaders gather in New York to meet UN Secretary General AER seminar on youth entrepreneurship: Regions Supporting Innovative Business and Social Profit →

More articles on this topic

Committee 1 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020
Territorial approaches: the governance of Abruzzo for rural areas
Committee 1 progress Report Spring 2020
Why Innovative Skills are the Catalyst for Rural Areas
Committee 2 Annual Report June 2019 – November 2020

AER. Connecting regions, inspiring Europe since 1985.

Follow our newsletter!




View previous campaigns.


  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Tweets by @europeanregions

AER Projects

  • Ongoing projects
    • EU-BELONG: An Intercultural Approach to Migrant Integration in Europe’s Regions
    • Includ-EU: Regional and local expertise, exchange and engagement for enhanced social cohesion in Europe
  • Partner search
  • Completed projects
    • SCIROCCO Exchange project
    • SKILLNET – Sector Skills Network of VET centres in Advanced Manufacturing: a coalition of transnational VET providers
    • CUBES – Cultural Administration Boosting with the Engagement of Sustainability for Local Communities
    • Y-FED: Europe is what we make of it
    • AMiD – Access to Services for Migrants with Disabilities
    • AER Summer Academy 2016
    • Alcohol Prevention Peer Reviews
    • ECREIN+
    • Engaged
    • Joint Efforts to Combat Dropout (JET-CD)
    • Let’s REUnite! Together for cohesion project
    • MOCHA
    • MORE4NRG
    • PRESERVE
    • PYE – Promoting Youth Employment
    • PRO-I3T
    • REALM – Regional Adult Learning Multipliers and the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiatives
    • Regions4GreenGrowth
    • Road to the Future
    • SEED European Silver Economy Awards
    • Smart Care
    • Smart Europe
    • YES – Youth Entrepreneurship Strategies

Library

Statutory Documents
AER Strategies
Minutes
Media Kit
Activity Reports
Newsletters
European Regions Map

Join AER!

Become a Member

Job Opportunities

Sign up for our Newsletter

Website map

Brussels · Strasbourg · Alba Iulia

A Network, a Partner and a Voice of European regions, since 1985 · Copyright © 2023 · Assembly of European Regions · [email protected] · Log in