The European Week of Regions and Cities

Between 9 and 12 October, the Commission held the 21st European Week of Regions and Cities in Brussels. The week was packed with presentations, workshops, discussions, and showcases. It celebrated the achievements of regions and cities and brought people together to plan new projects and the future of Europe.

The 7000+ participants, 500 speakers, and 220 workshops made this first entirely physical event after the pandemic a glowing success.

Eugenia Bonifazi, RECAH Project Manager, attended the event and was invited to moderate the session ‘Energy communities fostering energy efficiency and RES targets through EU initiative Green Assist’.

The Green Advisory Service for Sustainable Investments Support (Green Assist) is a new advisory initiative under InvestEU, funded by the LIFE programme. It aims to build a pipeline for green investment projects that have a high impact. These projects target sectors of the natural capital and circular economy, as well as non-environmental sectors.

Project promoters, financial institutions, or other project partners may benefit from advisory services by distinguished experts. Experts are selected from an established pool (‘Roster of experts’) or, for specific demands, recruited from other advisory services (e.g. capacity building; studies).

The workshop highlighted the challenges and opportunities that renewable and citizen energy communities face concerning funding, regulatory, and technical issues when furthering energy efficiency and resilience while increasing renewable energy generation. Philipp Troppmann, Deputy Head of the CINEA Unit, explained that energy communities in Europe can apply for technical assistance through Green Assist. If the application is successful, they will be awarded technical assistance from one of the experts on the roster.

This could be another opportunity for rural energy communities to receive support following the conclusion of RECAH’s technical assistance delivery phase.