In July, OER, partner in the NECPlatform project, had the opportunity to participate in the fifth meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC).
Leea Mihailă represented Energy Cities Romania (OER) in the panel “Cities as Innovation Labs,” held on July 23rd. Moderated by Paul Kearns, Director of the Argonne National Laboratory, the panel brought together energy and technology experts, highlighting the role of cities as dynamic innovation centers where solutions to urban challenges are tested and refined.
During the panel, Leea Mihailă presented OER’s mission to support local authorities in the energy transition towards climate neutrality. She emphasized the importance of developing National Energy and Climate Plans, which need to be visionary and involve the whole society to reduce emissions and promote the shift towards green energy. These plans are crucial for achieving sustainability goals.
A key aspect discussed was the necessity of decentralizing the development of energy strategies. Through multi-level dialogue, strategies can be co-created by all stakeholders, ensuring a comprehensive and inclusive approach. OER highlighted the essential role of local authorities as agents of transformative change, capable of providing valuable insights and proposing solutions to overcome various barriers, including financial instruments.
The contribution of the local level in supporting national climate neutrality goals is vital. Local authorities can facilitate achieving desired outcomes and effectively implementing measures outlined in national plans. In this context, cooperation between key actors and society becomes crucial for ensuring a better future and implementing sustainable and equitable solutions.
OER’s participation in this panel underscored the commitment to promoting a collaborative approach between different levels of government and society. The discussions emphasized the importance of active community involvement in the energy transformation, highlighting their crucial role in achieving climate neutrality and energy security goals, as well as to discuss how cities become live innovation laboratories for their citizens (e.g., by creating the Citizens Jury to deliberate on different local measures, by co-creating the 2050 Climate Neutrality Roadmap with their citizens, by providing all their support for the smooth transition from prosumers to renewable energy communities).
In conclusion, the P-TECC event was an ideal setting to present NECPlatform to other stakeholders and exchange ideas and strategies among energy leaders. It demonstrated that cities can and must be innovation labs, paving the way towards a sustainable future. The projects discussed by OER play a critical role in this process, and active community involvement is essential for long-term success.
While Member States were to submit the updated NECPs by June 2023 and the final ones in June 2024, few are now available. NECPlatform will cross-check them from September onwards to see how countries perform when it comes to implementing article 11 of the Governance Regulation, mandating Member States to set up a proper multilevel climate and energy dialogues to develop the plans. Stay tuned!
