EUKI Newsletter

Date: 7 July 2020

From an unforseen crisis towards a sustainable European recovery?

Dear EUKI Community, friends and colleagues,

almost four months after the first lock-downs in Europe, most of the national borders are reopened and a recovery plan for the EU is under fierce debate. In our newsletter, we present a review on how the crisis has challenged climate projects in their daily work and take a closer look at the beginning German Presidency of the Council of the European Union and, connected therewith, the role of climate for the European crisis recovery strategy.

Vjeran Prisic, from our partner organization Eko Kvarner, indicates, that the corona crisis appears to be an accelerator in various areas and could speed up the ongoing ‘paradigm shift led by young Europeans’ toward a more environment friendly society. He also argues that renewables could become increasingly important for Croatian citizens who are forced to make smarter and more sustainable investments due to the current economic shock. We invite you to read more about the effects of the crisis on climate projects in our interview series with new EUKI Community interviews from Germany, Poland and Croatia.

At the same time, European recovery plans and strategies are under debate in Brussels. Two weeks ago, Germany has presented its official program for the Presidency of the Council of the EU and shifted the focus for the coming 6 months toward the economic recovery of the Eurozone. The big question is, whether the European recovery strategy will lead to a solely quantitative or also a qualitative economic recovery, and whether the decarbonization of the European economies will be part of the game?

The new project “Three4Climate”, implemented by Navigant – a Guidehouse Company, adelphi and the Independent Insitute for Environmental issues (UfU), aims to push for the latter and to build bridges between the imminent three presidencies of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. We invite you to read more about the project’s approach to foster collaboration for climate action on all political levels and to support the measures of six partner cities in the trio countries.

We hope that the contributions from our EUKI Community will help to strengthen the role of climate policy within the European come-back plan and once more wish you all to stay safe and healthy!

Yours sincerely,

Stefan Bundscherer

Director European Climate Initiative (EUKI)

To make sure you don't miss any news about the excellent work being achieved by the EUKI projects, we recommend a visit to our website, Twitter channel or our new Facebook page.

	‚Think European – Act local‘: Three EU Presidencies, six cities and many ideas for climate action The new EUKI Project "Three4Climate" connects the Council of the EU presidencies of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. Six project partner cities from the three countries have shared their expextations and climate action measures with us. > read more
	Climate Projects and the Coronavirus Crisis We have spoken to experts from various projects and countries and asked how they are managing the current situation with Covid19. > read more
	100 international experts participated in the ALLIES Final The conference “Fostering Local Energy Transition” presented a cooperative floor for energy experts of different fields to discuss the potential of ALLIES in their respective countries - a summary. > read more
	BEACON Interview: Climate action in the new Covid-19 reality Polish journalist Katarzyna Goszcz from the EUKI Projekt 'Central Eastern European Climate and Energy Policy Scholarship for Journalists' interviews Iwona Korohoda from the Association of Municipalities Polish Network "Energie Cités". > read more
	Our Experience with Virtual Collaboration: Tips and Insights from the BEACON project Since countries across Europe initiated social distancing restrictions in March due to COVID-19, BEACON, like all EUKI projects, has been forced to rethink the ways of working. > read more
	Even more reasons to be delighted with sunshine Slightly more than one year ago, the Solar Energy for Multi - Family Houses in Lithuania (SOL) project concluded with a highly acclaimed conference in Lithuanian Parliament. > read more
	Interview: How does the corona crisis affect an island on its way to becoming energy-autonomous? We have talked to Climate activist Vjeran Pirsic from Eko Kvarner about the current crisis, its impacts on his work on the Croatian Island Krk and and the potential of renewables. > read more
	BEACON Interview: No climate action advocate left behind Polish journalist Katarzyna Goszcz from the EUKI Projekt 'Central Eastern European Climate and Energy Policy Scholarship for Journalists' interviews Researcher Matiás M. García from the Portuguese BEACON team. > read more
	212 Energy Scouts trained after two years – a summary In late 2017, the project Young Energy Europe started in four European countries with the aim of qualifying energy scouts and thus helping companies to cope with climate change. > read more
	Interview: Online Meetings and a Digital Conference for Energy Efficiency In March, the ALLIES Consortium got to know that they had to cancel their planned conference on Krk, Croatia, due to the ongoing spread of the Coronavirus. Read more about how they replaced the event. > read more
	Interview: Continued Commitment for Climate Action despite the Crisis Despite the crisis the climate topic is still on the political agenda, reports Aleksander Śniegocki. In the interview, he talks about Wise Europes continuned commitment for climate action despite the corona crisis. > read more

Imprint
Published by:	Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Potsdamer Platz 10 10785 Berlin Germany
In charge of this newsletter:	Stefan Bundscherer
Edited by:	Oliver Hölcke Samuel Held Funding Programme European Climate Initiative (EUKI) Potsdamer Platz 10 10785 Berlin, Germany

'The European Climate Initiative (EUKI) is a project financing instrument of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), based on a decision of the German Bundestag. The Financing Programme EUKI is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.'

www.euki.de