Ready4NetZero Web Seminar: How to Fund Climate Transition? Have a Look at Good Practice Cases from Zagreb
The second webinar by EUKI project Ready4NetZero on 21nd of November 2023 was part of a capacity building series and hosted over 46 participants, including city officials and municipal staff from Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. The event had a highlight on the city of Zagreb and its financial strategy, in the light of their climate transition process. Another important topic on the agenda was the City of Zagreb’s Energy Information Centre, a valuable resource for citizens seeking information on renewable energy sources.
The webinar was hosted by the North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA) and moderated by Tena Maruševac. A brief description over the project’s objectives, steps taken so far, challenges and next directions was given by Izabela Kuśnierz, from PNEC – Association of Municipalities Polish Network “Energie Cités”, the project coordinator.
The guest speaker was Mr. Velimir ŠEGON, General Deputy Director of REGEA. He brought the city of Zagreb and its financial strategy to the forefront in the perspective of the climate transition process. The focus was especially on the support provided by the European Investment Bank through the ELENA programme, an initiative managed under Horizon Europe.
4 major projects coordinated by REGEA were presented with details regarding targets and objectives, budget and funding, challenges, action plans and results. New Light: project completed focusing on the reconstruction of public lighting in Zagreb & Krapina-Zagorje areas; RePubLEEc: project completed focusing on the rehabilitation of street lighting in Zagreb; PV Max: project still under implementation until 2024 for the public and private sectors in Croatia; Za-Green: project started in May 2023, involving the City of Zagreb and aiming at major investments in building renovation and PV installation.
The participants were very interested in asking questions about Zagreb actions and progress, related to specific steps on regenerable energy sources, heating systems, technical solutions for public buildings and advices for the successful implementation of various sustainability strategies. All the information can be found here.
This webinar is the second of a series of 6 other similar events, all part of the Ready4NetZero project. The next one will be organized on 9th of January 2024. This capacity-building programme targets the municipal administration staff from the Ready4NetZero pilot cities, but also other local authorities in Croatia, Hungary, Poland or Romania. Throughout the project, the team will organize in-person workshops to address country-specific needs, online train-the-trainer events, as well as a study visit to several forerunner cities in Germany, for a good practice transfer and experience sharing among local public administrations converging on developing and implementing local long-term climate strategies.
Ready4NetZero is a EUKI funded project coordinated by the Polish Network “ENERGIE CITÉS”, with a consortium formed of the Ecologic Institute from Germany, ENERGIAKLUB from Hungary, REGEA from Croatia and Energy Cities Romania. Ready4NetZero aims to support cities from the participating countries in developing and implementing 2050 climate neutrality strategies and seeks to do this by building capacity, knowledge and skills among local leaders, municipal staff and local stakeholders, facilitating experiences exchange and dialogue between local authorities.