By Brian Johnson - 17th July 2005
Brussels has launched a €3.7 million campaign to raise public awareness on the benefits of sustainable energy.
Unveiled by EU energy chief Andris Piebalgs, the ‘Sustainable energy Europe’ campaign sets out a number of goals aimed at EU citizens and decision makers.
The campaign, which will run until 2008 hopes to contribute towards meeting the EU’s energy policy targets, recently outlined in the European Commission’s Green Paper on energy efficiency.
These aims include an increase in the share of renewable energy up to 12 per cent by 2010, and estimated savings in energy consumption of 20 per cent by 2020.
Piebalgs said that he wanted to ensure that there was a strong EU level of public understanding of sustainable energy technologies.
“The main focus of this campaign is to act as a catalyst for continued development, promotion and market update of sustainable energy technology," said the Latvian commissioner at the campaign’s launch on Monday.
“Real change can be done most of all by citizens themselves and also by political decision makers. The campaign will raise citizens' awareness and decision making at local, regional, national and European levels.”
Newly created events and information sources, including the introduction of annual sustainable energy awards, a yearly conference, and a campaign website for decision makers, the media and the general public are all expected to increase awareness.
A key component of the campaign are the introduction of ‘sustainable energy partnerships’, made up of organisations that are currently involved or plan to implement projects and programmes that impact on the EU’s energy environment.
“It’s a win-win situation, from our side we promote sustainable energy in Europe from the other side we get better visibility for partnership projects and programmes,” said Piebalgs.
The campaign will use existing benchmarking targets set for 2010, such as the installation of 450 new combined biomass heat and power plants, and the expected construction of 50,000 ‘very low’ energy houses, which the commission hopes will act as incentives for decision makers and planners.
“This campaign will promote better living standards, stimulate economic growth, create jobs and enhance the competitive position of European industry on world markets,” said Piebalgs.
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