Events

Webinar

Citizen Finance: people investing in their cities’ sustainable future

A Covenant of Mayors & C-Track 50 webinar

9 June 2020, 10:00 - 11:30

Join the second Covenant of Mayors - C-Track 50 webinar on 9 June!

Climate change is considered one of the major problems facing our societies. Citizens have realised the importance of acting rapidly towards its mitigation by pushing decision-makers for immediate action. The European Commission recently proposed its new European Green Deal, aiming to tackle this important challenge.

Multiple European cities and regions have been proactive and have already completed several actions towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, such as increasing the use of renewable energy sources and using high energy efficiency technologies. These efforts are often part of Covenant of Mayors Action Plans. The funding of these action plans is based on European, national, regional and local resources, as well as on the contribution of citizens who have been mobilised to support local projects.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the need for further investments and financial support. How can municipalities gather the required financial resources to achieve their Energy Transition targets to tackle climate change?

An important tool towards this endeavour is citizen funding for local climate action projects. Some innovative ways to harness this tool will be presented in the second C-Track 50 webinar.

Last year’s widespread climate mobilisations demonstrated that citizens are ready to become a part of the energy transition through actions such as citizen financing, crowdfunding, and energy cooperatives. These solutions will all be discussed in the upcoming webinar, presented by first-hand practitioners and institutional actors.

Register here!

Agenda:

  • Funding Climate Action Initiatives through Citizen Financing Instruments, Somesh Sharma and Catherine Foley, HIS
  • Energy cooperatives: a different way of doing business in the energy sector, Daan Creupelandt, REScoop
  • Raising Capital and Acceptance: local governments join hands through energy cooperatives in Neustadt an der Waldnaab County (DE), Arthur Hinsch, ICLEI Europe
  • Crowdfunding of solar roofs in the city of Krizevci (HR), Petra Orehovački, Regional Energy Agency North and Lucija Topic, City of Krizevci

You can find material from the first C-Track 50 webinar, which covered long-term energy planning, here.