Climate Heroes

This year, in the second round of the project, around 60 young people from the region participated in the educational and capacity-building project, then organized into groups and began working on their ideas for climate change mitigation. This year, it was possible to organize the regional forum in person, so their efforts culminated in a 3-day trip to meet their peers and fellow climate activists face to face. The regional forum was held in Brno, Czech Republic, where 33 selected participants from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and the Czech Republic were able to present their initiatives, exchange experiences, and share knowledge and ideas.

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Regional Climate Heroes Forum

When asked about impressions, the overwhelming majority of participants had a positive experience and many of them highlighted the importance of connecting and meeting others with similar interests, sharing different perspectives, and learning from each other. “I found it interesting that the participants had different approaches to the problem of climate change. Each Initiative came to its solution in a beautiful and creative way,” one participant shared, while another added: “We can’t do much on our own, but we can do something and influence others”.

Participants presented their work and achievements to the audience of their peers and to the jury, who selected three initiatives with the potential biggest climate impact. Along with the three awarded initiatives, two more initiatives received special recognition for best presentation at the forum. However, all of the work by the young people involved in the project was highlighted as relevant and crucial by the jury and the organizers, with the hope that these young people continue their good work, and inspire many others to get involved. We want young people to lead us to a brighter future because the future belongs to them!

The winning initiatives for 2022

1. Bianca Rusu from Romania with her initiative We Can Do It, consisting of a workshop dedicated to inspiring teenagers to recycle plastic in creative and artistic ways, giving new life to used and no longer needed items.
2. Adam Smolka and Jakob Mandik from the Czech Republic came up with a way to build a gym bicycle that produces electricity when used so that people can charge their phones for free and sustainably while exercising.
3. Simona Hildebrandova, Kristina Shimkova, Tibor Mitro, and Natalia Banichova, also in front of the Czech delegation with an initiative aimed at addressing the problem of air pollution around schools and drawing attention to the importance of biodiversity in the urban environment. They achieved this through interactive workshops and planting flower beds in collaboration with students from their local school.

Other initiatives worked on topics such as raising awareness through digital campaigns, like Gen Eco with their social media networks and Together4Planet, through video campaigns. Sea Frame on the other hand took a more direct approach with its campaign to increase visibility and draw attention to environmental problems.

KompostIN and Sustainable Food Revolution focused on food waste and food production and their impact on the environment. While Food for Earth goes to the root of the problem by tackling soil degradation.

EcoHub is working on creating a climate change guide to help people reduce their carbon footprint, while the team behind Eko stopovačka used digital tools and quizzes to bring fun and games to learning about ecology.

In addition to presenting their work and networking, participants had the opportunity to go on a mobility tour of the city and visit a sustainably developed neighborhood designed for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The regional forum was a great conclusion to months of learning, dedication, and innovation, but also a great chance for young people to find like-minded individuals, get inspired and motivated to continue in their fight against the climate crisis.

As one of the participants commented during the Forum: “Anything you wanna do you can do and there are people who will support you, you just need to go find them and fight for what you want”.

• Are you fascinated by the power of solar and wind energy?
• Do you want your region to be energy independent?
• Are you ready to locally self-organize the harvest in the community?
• Would you team up in your own neighborhood to establish solar and wind power plants and own and control it together?
• This Course about Community Energy will teach you how.

Courses

In these courses you can learn about the secrets of community energy. Practitioners will help you and your community step by step and you can also contact them or visit them if your group needs assistance in any phase of your community energy projects.

For each course you will need only a couple of days and you are free to choose in what order you would like to complete it.

Start the course here: https://citizenenergy.academy/

Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility

Draft of the Czech CEIM is out!

We are glad to share the news that our project has finalized a draft of the Climate and Energy Investment Map for Czechia. The map reflects domestic investment flowing into climate protection and energy transition. It covers total capital expenditure for such measures in two sectors, energy supply and buildings. These are the most important contributors to greenhouse gas emissions of Czechia. The Czech map replicates the Climate and Energy Investment Map Germany, which we published in February 2019.

Figure: Draft of the 2017 Climate and Energy Investment Map for Czechia, CZK billion:

Selected Insights

In 2017, public and private actors invested CZK 18.1 billion in climate mitigation measures in the buildings and energy sectors of Czechia. Investment in energy efficiency measures (CZK 11.4 billion, and 63 % of the total tracked investment) largely prevail over the investment in renewable energy and fuel switch.

The main sources of investment were private entities, such as households and corporate actors, providing 60 % of the total investment (CZK 10.7 billion). The rest were public sources, stemming mainly from the EU Funds and public national budget.

The key instrument used to support investment in the buildings sector were grants while the contribution of other financial instruments was not significant. In the energy sector, the main instruments were feed-in-tariffs and green bonus, representing operational support into renewable energy development.

The intermediaries assisting the provision of capital were national ministries and their agencies, as well as the various actors of the capital market.