The 18th session in the long-running Breakfast at Sustainability’s series took place last 27th of May in the Norway House in Brussles. The event explored how cities and citizens can be engaged in the run up to the Paris Climate Negotiations. A major international climate change agreement is expected to be adopted at the upcoming COP in Paris (France), with the input of cities and citizens vital to ensure that the agreement recognises the roles of diverse actors in driving change.
There were two very interesting talks, the first one about the increasing role of civil society in relation to climate change. The speaker, Lutz Ribbe, chair of Sustainable Development Observatory, European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), explained how there is no coherent policy regarding the renewable energies compared to the fossil energy.
He also expressed the need for Civic Energy, i.e. energy for the people, and showed how this is already being successful in Germany through energy cooperatives, local authorities, etc. The legal framework is perfect for it, and almost 50% of the renewable energy is produced by private individuals or farmers. The issue now is that the 4 biggest and strongest German energy companies “woke up” and are trying to change this (their production is just the 5% of the total).
Mr. Ribbe referred to the fact that there is no political awareness to increase the involvement of civil society. At the moment there is no much engagement and that needs to change.
After these talks, there was time to exchange good practices with the example of two Norwegian cities (Bergen and Arendal) and the actions that they carried out in order to fight climate change. This was followed by a very enriching panel debate with the following experts:
–Evelyne Huytebroeck, Member of Brussels Parliament, Former Environment Minister.
–Paul Davies, Head of EU-Office Bristol, European Green Capital 2015.
–Rosalind Cook, Senior Policy Advisor, E3G Brussels Office.
–Wendel Trio, Director, Climate Action Network Europe (CAN Europe).
–Marta Olender, International and Inter-institutional Relations, DG CLIMA, European Commission.
