The European Week of Regions & Cities – the annual four-day event showcasing local and regional efforts toward a stronger EU cohesion policy – closed last week in Brussels.

During the event the Malta Intelligent Energy Management Agency (MIEMA) had the opportunity to organise a session related to the promotion of RES through green fiscal policies in Mediterranean municipalities, within the Interreg MED LOCAL4GREEN project, counting on the active contribution of project partners from different MED area countries and their municipal stakeholders.

Mayors from the local authorities of Gozo (San Lawrenz LC), Slovenia (Municipality of Grosupije) and Spain (Municipality of Pedreguer) shared the best practices put in place during the project implementation and aimed to reduce the carbon footprint in their municipalities.The aim of the session was to debate on the important role of local authorities in the promotion of RES through innovative fiscal policies.

MIEMA and Fundacian MUSOL from Spain moderated the open debate outlining the results of the LOCAL4GREEN project and the challenges local government has still to face in Europe to contribute to the national government’s agenda on climate change initiatives.

Noel Formosa, the Mayor of San Lawrenz, took part in the debate transferring to the participants his direct experience of local decision maker involved in the LOCAL4GREEN project and summarising all the steps taken forward to the final implementation of green local fiscal policies to promote the use of renewables in the locality.It was also an occasion for the San Lawrenz Local Council to present within the European Week of Regions & Cities 2019, the pilot study conducted in the locality through the Interreg MED PEGASUS project (Promoting Effective Generation And Sustainable UseS of electricity) and demonstrating the advantages of implementing community-based micro-grids for small localities on the island.

On the same day MIEMA participated in an informal discussion at the FEDARENE office (European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and Environment) in Brussels on the “Microgrid Business Models from the PEGASUS project.’

The event in Brussels was open to project partners and technical experts aiming to outline the importance for EU Member States to encourage the use of local renewables sources (RES) and provide national legal frameworks with the right tools to enable ‘energy communities” at local level, as recently stressed by the EU Clean Energy package integrating energy community in the European Legislation.MIEMA explained that in this new scenario, the results achieved by the Interreg MED PEGASUS project with the San Lawrenz Local Council seem to be in line with the micro-grids promising solutions of reducing the cost of energy for the micro-grid community members. This in addition to providing a more reliable energy supply by using RES particularly in vulnerable areas such as islands and rural areas.

For further information, kindly visit: Local4Green and Pegasus

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