UNEP events at EUSEW (Brussels, 14-16 June 2016)

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The Policy Conference of the EU Sustainable Energy Week took place from 14 to 16 June in Brussels. The event is one of the most important European conferences dedicated to sustainable energy policy issues and attracted this year over 2.000 participants. UNEP was represented in this 11^th edition at 2 sessions.

On 14 June,  UNEP-DTU organised a session on the Global Energy Efficiency Accelerator Platform. This platform is the flagship energy efficiency engagement initiative of Sustainable Energy for All (“SE4All”)aiming to scale up energy efficiency policy, action and investment, with the aim of doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency worldwide by 2030.

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The seminar raised the issues and challenges of creating effective Energy Efficiency delivery partnerships between city and national governments who have committed to Energy Efficiency improvement, and the private sector service, product and finance providers that can help them deliver.

The session was chaired by Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, Chief Partnership Officer, Sustainable Energy for All and speakers included: Mark Radka UNEP; Sara Pasquier, International Energy Agency;  Steven Kukoda, International Copper Association; Julia Panzer, Danfoss and Al-Karim Govindji from The Carbon Trust.

During the discussion UNEP’s Mark Radka explained that accelerators are a means to coordinated action and that it would not be economically efficient if all countries had their own standards. UNEP’s 'District Energy in Cities' initiative was presented as one of the key energy efficiency accelerators. The initiative helps deliver on the SDGs and climate goalsJulia Panzer pointed out. Asked why Danfoss joined SE4ALL she said the Platform actually helps cities and gives them choices on how to deliver on energy efficiency.

More information is available here.

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On 15 June, Euroheat & Power, CELSIUS Project, GCP Europe, EHI and UNEP co-hosted an event entitled The heat is on - Energy Union, from principle to practice .

In a keynote address, Eva Hoos (DG ENER) demonstrated how both the Energy Union package, published in 2015, and the Heat Strategy, launched in February 2016, shed light on the role of the heating sector in meeting EU’s energy and climate targets. The sector however still faces challenges related to shortages in knowledge, in financing and in capacity building.

In the interactive panel debate that followed, speakers looked into how the EU can accelerate the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector and obtain increased security of energy supply in the most cost-effective manner in view of its 2030 climate and energy ambitions.

Building on the work of the District Energy Initiative, Lily Riahi (UNEP) drew attention to the role of district energy in a European decarbonisation strategy. These European practices should serve as a model for the development of district energy technologies across the world. She gave an overview of the work conducted by the District Energy Initiative, which provides integrated energy planning and assessments, develops business models and demonstrates the commercial viability of projects through capacity-building.

Panelists agreed that a clear regulatory framework is needed, especially if we are to make best use of the strong private sector’s innovation capacity, stressed Patrick Labat (Veolia), while Elisabeth Unden (City of Göteborg) provided the audience with the many successful stories from the city of Göteborg, demonstrating that district energy is a key solution for European cities.

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In light of the many environmental challenges Europe is facing, Paul Voss (EuroHeat & Power) stated that it has become crucial to improve the building stock efficiency. According to Roger Webb (Association of the European Heating Industry), a mixture of information, incentives and regulation is the only way to persuade consumers to change their heating systems. This point was also raised by Tim Rook (Building Engineering Services Association), who underlined that consumers and building owners should be empowered through information and get familiar with the substantial amount of new technologies available.

More information is availablehere.