Current Projects

NET-COM - Networking the Covenant of Mayors

The project aims at empowering local authorities (at both political and administrative levels) to implement successfully their current (or future) Covenant engagements. To that purpose, national Covenant Networking Platforms will be created in 12 countries. These platforms will ensure better communication and exchange among local authorities as well as between local authorities and key actors willing to support local authorities in their efforts to achieve the Covenant objectives. The project, funded by the Intelligent Energy-Europe programme, is carried out by a consortium of 12 local and regional authorities' network from the European, national and regional levels.

POLIS
The IEE project "POLIS – Identification and mobilisation of solar potentials via local strategies" serves to support strategic solar-oriented urban development. Climate Alliance is responsible for the establishment of national competence groups – in Germany, workshops were held in Hamburg and Hannover for this purpose – as well as for the development of both country condition sheets (featuring political, legal, economic and technical conditions) and guidelines for local planning processes, among other aspects. Mobilisation of the solar urban potential of European cities is to be promoted through cooperation between the cities of Lisbon (PT), Lyon and Paris (FR), Malmö (SE), Munich (DE), and Vitoria-Gasteiz (ES) engaged in solar urban planning.
http://www.polis-solar.eu

Smart-e Buildings
The Europe-wide mobilisation campaign "Smart-e Buildings" tackles the huge energy-saving potential of the building sector. It aims at giving owners of - new and refurbished, public and private - buildings, public authorities and citizens access to information on energy efficiency and renewable energy perspectives, thus enabling them to take action and go for large-scale investments in those sectors. "Smart-e Buildings" aims at involving 2 million Europeans through an interactive web portal linked to the main social networks currently used.
http://www.takeyourenergyback.eu

Remining-Lowex
The motto of the project funded within the scope of the EU's CONCERTO programme is "Old mines – New energy". It explored the supply of residential areas in former coal mining areas with geothermal energy from decommissioned mines to cover the heating and cooling requirements in four municipalities: Heerlen (NL), Zagorj (SL), Czeladz (PL) and Bourgas / Cherno More (BG). The system is based on low-energy standards and is supported by integrated building designs and energy concepts. Climate Alliance is responsible for public relations work on the European level and for supplying the general public in the pilot municipalities with information. It is working on a brochure for political decision-makers, which is due to be published in 2011.
http://www.remining-lowex.org

Climate Star
In 2009 Climate Alliance has invited all European local authorities to present their climate protection activities and apply for a Climate Star for the forth time. The Climate Star is awarded for outstanding programmes, and documents their experience and success at a communal level. The diverse local strategies employed to protect the climate are provided with a platform aimed at motivating other municipalities to follow suit.
In 2009 the 15 Climate Star laureates were awarded on invitation of the Regional Authority of Lower Austria at a ceremony. 444 cities and municipalities from the 11 countries Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom, applied at Climate Alliance for the European award and recorded their local climate protection activities. They submitted 118 projects in four categories of size. An independent expert jury assessed the submitted projects according to the predetermined criterions innovation, cost-benefit-ratio, long-term contribution to CO2 reduction and transferability.
http://climate-star.org

Previous Projects

EnergyBridges
The EU-financed EnergyBridges project was carried out together with ASTM – Action Solidarité Tiers Monde / Climate Alliance Luxembourg, Védegylet / Protect the Future (Hungary), Nadace Partnerství (Czech Environmental Partnership Foundation) and with the south partners Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía, Programa de Formación de Maestros Bilingües de la Amazonía Peruana and Centro de documentacion e informacion Bolivia.
Particularly the partners from the Czech Republic and Hungary were able to entrench the subject of energy justice as a new focus in the cooperation with state institutions and other NGOs in their countries. The "Luxembourg Appeal" was passed during a concluding press conference, in which Camile Gira also participated as the representative of Climate Alliance’s executive board. In this document, the EU states are called upon to do more for climate protection, to support the developing countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change, and to commit themselves further to the development of renewable energies. The project highlight was assuredly the delegation trip to Ecuador in 2009, which left a lasting impression on all participants and has since led to a great many follow-up events. The countless art initiatives held at schools with artist Michael Müller also added a whole new dimension of discussion to the topics of energy justice and rainforest protection.
http://www.energybridges.eu

pro-EE – Public Procurement boosts Energy Efficiency
pro-EE is a Climate Alliance project funded within the scope of the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme, which aimed to contribute to joint procurement for the enhanced market penetration of energy-efficient products. In 2010, training was held for municipalities in all countries participating in the pro-EE project (Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Greece, Portugal) and in addition in Hungary and Slovakia. Five pilot municipalities developed an integrated energy efficiency plan within this project – taking local interest groups into consideration and performing public relations work for citizens. In autumn 2010, the concluding conference was held in Linz. It was well-attended by around 200 procurement experts and attracted a great deal of media attention. All project documents are available in six languages on the project homepage.
http://www.pro-ee.eu

Sustainable Now
Within this project, Climate Alliance leads on capacity building in sustainable energy, supported by ICLEI Europe and 15 partners, amongst others Bourgas (BG), Miskolc (HU), Woking Borough Council (UK), Bologna (IT), Ludwigsburg (DE) and regions as the Province of Siena in Italy. Guidance is provided to local governments - from pioneers to beginners, from decision-makers to municipal staff. It includes providing support in developing CO2 emissions inventories and Local Energy Action Plans (LEAPs), as well as organising peer-to-peer exchanges and learning opportunities such as study tours, staff trainee exercises and specialised workshops.
On April 2010 and February 2011 Climate Alliance organised a study tour in Munich and a workshop on CO2 emissions reduction planning and monitoring.
http://www.sustainable-now.eu

Local Governments Climate Partnership
Learning from each other and undertaking joint action in mitigating climate change are at the centre of the Local Governments Climate Partnership initiative. With Germany, the USA and Japan being the causers of about 30 percent of the worldwide CO2 emissions, exceptionally effective climate protection measures are required to achieve the necessary emission reductions. In this context, action on the local level is essential. The priority of the Local Governments Climate Partnership is therefore to support an active exchange on local climate change policies among German cities and their twin cities in Japan and the USA.
In February 2010, a study tour to the USA was organised. Seven German cities (Esslingen, Freiburg, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Kaiserslautern, Mainz and Stuttgart) met their US twin cities to exchange and debate their experiences, approaches and achievements in local climate policies. The study tour started with an expert meeting hosted by the City of Chicago, followed by the visits of the German cities to their sister cities.
Climate Alliance and the Heidelberg Ifeu Institute were in charge of carrying out this research project on behalf of the German Federal Agency for the Environment. Apart from creating opportunities for twin cities to meet and exchange, they have developed a specific tool to enable efficient mutual learning: The Climate Cities Benchmark.

SUPPORT_ERS

What can EU member states learn from each other in the promotion of renewable energies? How can they best provide support at a local level? The final project outcomes were presented during the European Sustainable Energy Week in March 2010: Instruments and policy recommendations in addition to trainings with options for political decision makers to support RES and it increases the awareness of the benefits of RES to regional stakeholders. The project consortium comprised twelve partners. Within this, ministers and national energy agencies with direct access to the according policy processes constituted a core group.
http://www.support-ers.eu
http://www.klimabuendnis.org/index.php?id=471

ECOLISH
The project, supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, promotes energy efficiency in existing residential buildings with a focus on freehold flats of persons with low income and social housing. Within the project, energy exploitation and performance contracting were organised, elaborated and evaluated in four pilot locations: Heerlen (NL), Ogre (LV), Pieria (GR) and Pécsvárad (HU). The triannual project was completed at the end of November 2009
http://www.ecolish.com

AMICA – Adaptation and Mitigation: an Integrated Climate Policy Approach
The AMICA project was concluded at the end of 2007. For the last two years the AMICA project has been studying ways of mitigating and adapting to climate change, laying the foundations for an integrated local climate policy. AMICA's work has attracted widespread public interest. AMICA was referred to as a positive example in the IPCC Report. Events at which the results have been presented include a workshop at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities on Adaptation to Climate (Strasbourg, September 2007) and the Consultation Workshops of the European Commission in Helsinki and Lisbon. The closing conference was held in the autumn 2007 in Linz, Austria. In addition to booklets with illustrative examples (in English, Italian and German), an online tool for an integrated methodology is available in English. On the basis of AMICA's findings, recommendations to the EU on the Green Paper on adaptation were drawn up and sent to MEPs.
http://www.amica-climate.net

Cogen Challenge
This three-year project (financed through the EU's Intelligent Energy Programme) was concluded at the end of 2007. It supports the expansion of combined heat and power (CHP) and combined cold and power facilities with an electric capacity of up to 1 megawatt. Details of more than 1,300 CHP facilities have been recorded in an Internet-based database and country-specific information about CHP has been produced.
The project has been coordinated by Cogen Europe, a European trade association for the promotion of cogeneration. Climate Alliance took particular responsibility for dissemination and promotion; other partners involved in the project were the city network Energie-Cités, the Jozef Stefan Institute (SI), the Institut de Conseil et d'Etudes en Développement Durable (BE), the Rhônalpénergie-Environnement (FR), the Fundación Asturiana de la Energía (ES), the city of Frankfurt am Main (DE) and the Grazer Energieagentur (AT).
http://www.cogen-challenge.org

PRIME - Private Investments move Ecopower
In this project initiated by the Climate Alliance and financed by the EU’s Intelligent Energy Programme, 14 partners from eight countries worked together to develop and publicize innovative models and ideas for the private financing of sustainable energy projects. The project produced an "Action Package" which provided helpful aids, described requirements and quoted examples of local PRIME projects. Ideally a local PRIME project combines measures to improve energy efficiency with measures to use renewables. At least 20 percent of the funding should come from private-sector capital. As a result of PRIME, a project of this type was initiated in the province of Bologna (IT). Sustainable energy projects based on PRIME were also initiated in Antwerp (BE) and Graz (AT).
http://www.prime-ecopower.net/en/home.htm

Black Gold from Green Forests – Oil in the Amazon region
The project was carried out in cooperation with Climate Alliance Austria and ASTM (Action Solidarité Tiers-Monde) / Climate Alliance Lëtzebuerg and was funded by the European Commission. To mark the conclusion of this successful project in February 2006, high-profile activities were carried out in Austria, Luxembourg and Germany in order to draw attention to the problems arising from dependence upon mineral oil in the industrialised and developing world alike. The diverse activities, presentation and materials produced in the three countries also focussed on the adverse effects upon indigenous peoples in Amazonia resulting from mineral oil extraction in their territories.
There were information events in municipalities and schools. The oil-art actions were carried out together with the artist Michael A. Müller in schools and social institutions and had a big resonance. The school painting campaign resulted in an "Arts catalogue", and individual pictures were reproduced as postcards.
In the framework of the project two delegation tours with representatives of local authorities from Austria, Luxembourg and Germany were organised. The first journey led to Peru. The goal of the second tour was the northern Amazon area of Ecuador where the participants could see by themselves the fatal consequences of oil extraction since the 30 years.
http://www.erdoelinamazonien.org