By 2050, the EU is challenged with cutting its emissions substantially – by 80-95% compared to 1990 levels, with the aim of effectively turning Europe into a highly energy efficient and low-carbon economy. There is a critical role for governments to create policy frameworks that enable long-term development of the sustainable energy sector and ensure a favourable environment for the transition to reduce carbon intensity. However, lack of public support could hinder this process by driving costs up and delaying necessary actions needed for switching to low-carbon economy. Public opposition is considered to be a major impediment in the EU policies. Therefore, improving stakeholder engagement, strengthening public participation processes and bottom-up movement in policy development could be seen as one of the key solutions.

The PANEL2050 project „Partnership for New Energy Leadership“ has encouraged local stakeholders to take the lead of development processes in ten CEE countries. Project has offered trainings, networking, guidebooks and visions for local stakeholders and helping them to become the leaders of sustainable development in their community.

Over three years our team has created durable and replicable sustainable energy networks at local (municipality/community) level in Central and eastern European countries, where relevant local stakeholders collaborate for the creation of a local energy visions, strategies and action plans for the transition towards low carbon communities in 2050.

The final conference of PANEL2050 will focus on the main aspects of sustainable energy development in the CEE region, the solutions developed in our project and what steps should be taken in the future to address these issues going forward. The third day of the conference will focus on successfully applying for Horizon2020 funding, organised by European Commission, EASME. 

This conference is organised within the PANEL2050 project “Partnership for New Energy Leadership”. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 696173. Disclaimer: The sole responsibility for the content of this event lies with the authors. It does not necessarily represent the views of the European Union and neither EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use of this material.