About 400 representatives of local and national authorities from Eastern Partnership countries, as well as EU representatives, took part in a high-level conference entitled “Municipalities for Sustainable Growth” in Kyiv on 22-23 November.
Two major panel discussions at the conference focused on a comprehensive overview of and recommendations on how cities and municipalities of the Eastern Partnership can address such issues as adaptation to climate change, EU4Energy’s Covenant of Mayors East project, and developing and implementing sustainable energy and climate policies at municipal level.
One of the main focuses of the event was the energy efficiency of multi-storey residential buildings. Nadja Vetters, a representative of the Joint Research Centre, presented the EU’s experience of energy efficiency in the residential sector, where the energy consumption of residential buildings had been reduced by 40%. She stressed that energy efficiency is not only about money, but also about the reduction of carbon emissions in the atmosphere, which improves the environment and people’s health.
Deputy Mayor of Dolyna City, Volodymyr Smolii, shared the story of a small city with a population of around 200,000 citizens that has managed to reduce its energy consumption by 20% over the past three years. Dolyna is one of two cities in Ukraine to have implemented an EU project aiming to reduce the energy consumption of residential buildings.
The Municipalities for Sustainable Growth conference was jointly organised by two major EU initiatives under EU4Energy: the Covenant of Mayors and Mayors for Economic Growth.
