Joint Annual Rendezvous of Climate Alliance and Energie-Cités

With nearly 500 participating politicians, municipal practitioners, company directors and NGO representatives the joint annual conference of the city networks Climate Alliance and Energie-Cités co-organised by the Brussels Capital Region from 22 to 24 April 2009 has exceeded all expectations.

The inspiring speech of the US American economist and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, Jeremy Rifkin, and the convincing speech of the director of the Centre for Science and Environment in India, Sunita Narain, clarifies the urgent need for action to reducing the CO2 emissions. As Narain unfortunately could not make it to be present personally, she emphasised in her video message industrialised countries have to meet their reduction obligations and may not only discuss on compensation mechanisms.

Rifkin visualised a Third Industrial Revolution and a New Social Europe in the 21st Century: “The communication revolution must connect with the energy revolution. The great pivotal economic changes in world history have occurred when new energy regimes converge with new communication regimes. We need to envision a future in which millions of individuals can produce locally generated renewable energy.”

One of the conference’s main responsibilities was the Covenant of Mayors and its practical implementation in cities and municipalities. Twelve European mayors – among them also the Deputy Mayor of Munich and President of Climate Alliance, Joachim Lorenz - presented their sustainable, local solutions in the fields of energy and climate. Stina Soewerta of the cabinet of EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs presented to the participants the means of support that the signatories can expect in the next month.

The Covenant of Mayors is an initiative of the European Commission started last year to involve cities and municipalities as well as citizens to achieve the objectives of the EU. Over 480 cities and municipalities all over Europe have committed themselves to go beyond the objectives of the EU (20 percent less CO2 emissions, 20 percent more energy efficiency and 20 percent more renewable energies).

The “Climate Alliance of European Cities with Indigenous Rainforest Peoples” is a city network with 1400 European local authorities in 17 countries that have entered into a partnership with indigenous rainforest peoples - united by the common concern for the global climate. By adhering, the cities and municipalities commit to an ambitious target: to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent every five years, with the important milestone of halving per capita emissions at the latest by 2030 (base year 1990).

Climate Alliance / Klima-Bündnis / Alianza del Clima e.V.
European Secretariat
Galvanistr. 28, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main
Tel. +49-69-717139-0, Fax +49-69-717139-93
europe@climatealliance.org
http://www.climatealliance.org

This release was published on openPR.