U povodu 25. obljetnice uglednog europskog udruženja FEDARENE, ovim putem prikazujemo prigodni film snimljen kako bi se obilježila ova vrijedna godišnjica. Za pregledavanje filma slijedite link ispod. Naglašavamo da je ovaj film u potpunosti pripremljen i snimljen u Hrvatskoj.

Udruženje FEDARENE osnovano je 8. lipnja 1990. godine na inicijativu šest europskih regija – Rhone-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, Valonija, Baskija, Aquitaine i Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Potaknute raznim programima Europske komisije, te su regije željele omogućiti da se njihov glas o problemima energetike i okoliša čuje u Europskoj komisiji i na cijeloj europskoj razini. Vrlo brzo FEDARENE je već 1995. narastao na četrdeset članica, a ured u Bruxellesu osnovan je još u studenome 1991. Danas FEDARENE ima više od 80 članova u 19 europskih zemalja. Od samih početaka FEDARENE je služio i kao poticaj za stvaranje novih energetskih agencija koje danas širom Europe djeluju kao pokretačka snaga novih ideja u energetici, ali i kao glavni mehanizam potpore održivom energetskom razvitku svojih regija.

Na kraju ove vijesti donosimo i govor predsjednika FEDARENE i ravnatelja Agencije dr. sc. Julija Domca održan u Bruxellesu na svečanoj konferenciji i dodjeli nagrade Roger Léron 16. lipnja 2015.

Role of regions and energy agencies in ensuring secure energy supply and EU climate change policy

Dear colleagues, distinguished guests and FEDARENE friends,

What has changed since 1990? A lot… and nothing! Our society still needs a lot of energy. The EU is still highly dependent on energy from outside the union, today importing some 50% or a bit more of all the energy we consume. This cost us more than one billion euros per day!

In 1990, some of us had some illusions that the world can quickly change for the better. Memories on Berlin wall removal were still very fresh. Today we have that big crisis in Ukraine, Middle East is more unstable than ever and securing our energy supply is even more important. So, nothing has changed.

In 1990, six European regions decided to join their voices to tell the Europe that sustainable energy can be a solution for the future and that environment is important. FEDARENE today is one of the few most prominent networks in the EU, working on that agenda together with its members.

Two weeks ago, six energy multinationals called for an efficient carbon market to enable the scaling up of gas as a solution to the climate problem. FEDARENE together with four other networks responded and offered another, different vision.

Our Vision is the vision in which regions act as aggregators and multipliers in addressing the climate challenge. All across Europe and the world, regions are creating new production and consumption systems that are not dependent on one source of fossil energy, but on a large mix of distributed, sustainable and decentralised renewable energy.

This agenda brings benefits to everyone and creates local jobs, business opportunities and regional added value. Through direct cooperation with citizens, civil society, academics and businesses, regions and cities are encouraging all their territory’s actors to take a part in the energy transition.

In a resource-constrained world, they are introducing new systems of governance where energy is seen as a common good, not a mere commodity.  We view energy as a resource we ought to save, beyond one that we can sell.

So nothing has changed. The real question is – are we doing enough to change things and to reverse this trend to even greater dependency on energy import?  We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them – this is a famous Einstein quote but still not applied fully in the case of our common European energy policy.

What can regions and energy agencies do? For FEDARENE, regions (supported by their energy agencies) are the ones – together with cities and municipalities, who bring European energy policy to life. FEDARENE believes that the regions and local authorities, again – together with energy agencies, have played a key role in the implementation of European sustainability policies so far. Sustainable energy future can be a reality for Europe! And especially for Europe in which we believe. This is why – our role and duty – is to plan, develop and implement sustainable energy projects at all levels and every day. And we are doing exactly this! Every day.

When I was about to start my current carrier, Gerd Ulz, at that time a director of Styrian Energy Agency (in Austria) told me – you have to be crazy to do this job. So my question today is – are we crazy enough?! Recent EU statistics and reports show that the share of renewable energy in EU has increased to more than 14% in 2012 as a proportion of final energy consumed – it was 8.7% in 2005. This is good news of course, but FEDARENE believes that this is not sufficient. We can do more.

I am very proud that many of our members think as well, that this is not sufficient. For example, in Upper Austria renewable energy currently supplies more than 35% of the total primary energy demand. For 2030, Upper Austria has set the target of meeting 100% of its electricity and space heating demand by renewable energy sources.

I am also very proud that, for the first time, we will in a few minutes give our newly established Roger Leron award to some crazy people who believed that the future can be different.

When I think about FEDARENE, I think also about friendship and partnership – an important word for my country Croatia shortly after our accession to the European Union but also an important word for all European regions. The achievement and experience of Croatian regions, proves to me that through hard work, persistence, political courage and determination, sustainable energy vision is within reach.  This is where I see FEDARENE in the future – as a strong partner and representative of European regions and energy agencies. Sustainable energy is today, an area where we should work together – as partners – hand in hand, European regions with our partners – the European Commission, other European institutions and our national governments.

This is why FEDARENE, supported by our regions and energy agencies as a pioneer, demonstrating that the future of the Europe as a whole lies in the delivery of sustainable energy has a bright future – in which I strongly believe. And we must and can work together – as partners!

I am grateful to all our FEDARENE members and partners for all their support during the last 25 years. Behind us are some excellent results – high impact successful projects, important initiatives and good friendship created. This makes me very proud and ready to take on the next challenges – for the future of Europe based on a sustainable energy vision!