31 Jan 2019: As a consortium of 12 civil society, local authority and research partners across Europe, we proudly announce the official launch of the EU LIFE project ‘PlanUp – for strong and inclusive energy and climate plans’. Through a multi-stakeholder engagement platform, the project’s scope examines and promotes effective local, regional and national decarbonisation policies across the agriculture, buildings and transport sectors in Spain, Italy, Poland, Romania and Hungary.
Planning for the future
National Energy & Climate Plans (NECP) are the new framework for EU Member States to fulfill the EU’s energy and climate commitments, until 2030. These plans will outline objectives, policies, targets, and measures for how to decarbonise the economy. This could include support for local energy communities, agricultural subsidies, public transport infrastructure and building renovations.
Speaking on behalf of PlanUp, Agnese Ruggiero said: “The development of meaningful and ambitious NECPs is of paramount importance to fulfil Europe’s 2050 climate and energy commitment. In name, this project impresses upon all EU member states to scale up their energy and climate plans through increased public participation”.
Under the NECP framework, the new PlanUp platform will allow for citizens in each country to share their experiences as well as reactions -through voting and open forums, on a variety of energy and climate questions. PlanUp.eu will also host an easy-to-access resources library that contains information on policy progress in the Member State along with low-carbon initiatives that deserve the spotlight.
Engagement
Working alongside national, regional and local partners, PlanUp closely tracks the current status of each energy and climate plan in the target countries. Data gathered and analysed by project partners will be made available on an open-source online platform, and further discussed with local and regional authorities, civil society organisations, academia and national policymakers at political roundtable and workshop events.
“Putting Europe on the right climate and energy pathway is a massive policy undertaking, and the responsibility of each EU government to deliver. We are encouraged by this project and look forward to supporting the capacity building efforts of PlanUp and engage alongside other stakeholders on developing a strong national energy and climate plan for our fellow citizens.” PlanUp partners.
Good Practice
To ensure that Member States’ NECPs are strong and inclusive tools to support the decarbonisation of Europe, PlanUp promotes good practices across the agriculture, transport and building sectors, by highlighting notable cases for discussion.
Through national dialogues, PlanUp also aims to examine and champion new low-carbon policy solutions, and assess the potential for scaled up application over the coming decade. Furthermore, good examples of governance and public participation will be shared by the project, to provide inspiration and guidance for multi-level energy and climate dialogues with all stakeholders in Member States.
As Spanish president Pedro Sánchez has publicly declared on his twitter account “We should put the ecology in the center of our future. We are the first generation suffering the consequences of climate change and the last one that can stop it. It is today or never. It is time for ecological transition”
Deploying adequate mid- and long-term climate and energy measures -required to make the emission cuts needed for 1.5oC scenarios- is essential across all sectors Time is therefore a factor if countries wish to deliver comprehensive NECPs that benefit from broad civil engagement. Adhering to the timeline agreed upon by Member States, 23 draft NECPs have been submitted to the European Commission, leaving the remaining 4 including Malta, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Spain still pending.
***ENDS***
Contact:
Elisa Martellucci
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +32 2 335 36 63
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Project partners: Carbon Market Watch, Energy Cities, Transport & Environment, Climact, European Environmental Bureau
National Affiliates: Polish Green Network (PL), ISD Fundatia (PL), Clean Air Action Group (HU), ADEPT (RO), GEC Bucovina (RO), Legambiente (IT), Ecodes (ES).
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Useful links:
- National Energy and Climate Plans: a strong tool to implement the Paris Agreement but only if participative and ambitious:https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/10/25/national-energy-and-climate-plans-a-strong-tool-to-implement-the-paris-agreement-but-only-if-participative-and-ambitious/
- National Energy and Climate Plans and the transition to carbon-free societies – A civil society guide:https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/national-energy-and-climate-plans-and-the-transition-to-carbon-free-societies-a-civil-society-guide/
- Practitioner’s guide for local stakeholder consultation – how to ensure adequate public participation in climate mitigation actions: https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/practitioners-guide-for-local-stakeholder-consultation-how-to-ensure-adequate-participation-in-climate-mitigation-actions/
- Understanding the Climate Action Regulation: https://carbonmarketwatch.org/publications/understanding-the-climate-action-regulation/
- Cities at the forefront of climate action: http://www.energy-cities.eu/IMG/pdf/achieving-the-paris-climate-goals-through-the-effort-sharing-regulation_2017-10.pdf
- Impacts and consequences of the adopted Climate Action Regulation: https://www.transportenvironment.org/publications/impacts-and-consequences-adopted-climate-action-regulation
- The good, the bad and the ugly: from Effort Sharing Regulation to Climate Action Regulation: https://www.transportenvironment.org/publications/good-bad-and-ugly-effort-sharing-decision-climate-action-regulation
- Emission reduction strategies for the transport sector in Romania, Spain, Hungary.
