CAN Europe created new exchange platforms to engage various CEE progressive stakeholders. We discussed how to build narratives for an ambitious energy transition that would focus on specific regional concerns – energy security and social aspects of climate action.
“It was a pleasure for MTVSZ to host the regional workshop on community energy under a joint EUKI project with CAN, CDE (Czechia) and ISD (Poland) in Budapest in June 2022. We contributed to the emergence of new cooperation initiatives among participants”. Alexa Botar, Climate & Energy Program Director of MTVSZ – NSC – Friends of the Earth Hungary. Powering Up Energy Communities in Central and Eastern Europe
In 2022 CAN Europe organised two CEE stakeholder workshops: in March we addressed the “socio-economic benefits of the ‘Fit for 55’ package for CEE” and in June we met in Budapest to discuss the “climate neutral business initiatives in the context of the ‘Fit for 55’, with special regard to community energy”. During these events, we worked on ways for enhancing coordinated responses and inputs to the national and European climate and energy debates.
In May we published a joint reaction to ‘REPowerEU’ in an open letter on rooftop solar PV, and in September, together with NGO CDE, we published a “CEE Energy Security Statement” targeting the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU. The statement called on the Presidency to prioritise ambitious climate policy “as a way towards a peaceful, affordable, clean, and secure supply of energy for Europe”. We also created regular opportunities for our CEE members and partners to meet key EU stakeholders and strategically discuss specific regional energy and climate policies, related concerns and needs.
