NESOI – The European Islands Facility on March 30th, 2023, attended the Conference of the Covenant of Mayors on Climate & Energy which was focused especially on the Cities that are on the frontline of the Energy Crisis.
The event, hosted by the European Commission, has been a unique opportunity to reflect and see up close how local authorities are responding to the ongoing energy crisis. It will also be the occasion to envision mid- to long-term solutions for a deeper societal transformation - shifting away from mainstream consumption behaviour to more resource sufficiency - with representatives from the Covenant community and EU institutions.
Mayors from cities all over Europe intervened showing their great commitment to tackling the energy crisis by implementing innovative energy efficiency measures and investing in green power solutions such as solar PVs, heat pumps, and storage technologies.
The actuality is that European households experiencing growing energy poverty and small and medium-sized businesses suffering from inflation and rising energy prices are shouldering most of the burden, which has been made even more onerous by the conflict in Ukraine. However, the crisis is also having an impact on people’s daily life habits, moving them away from over-consumption behaviours and instead combining their individual and community efforts to adopt practices that also combat climate change.
Local authorities have once more demonstrated their readiness to act on the front lines of the energy crisis. They implemented prompt measures to lower the energy demand in public buildings and raised the share of renewable energy sources while assisting the neediest households and local businesses.
As the First Vice-President of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas said “we can think globally acting locally”.