March 2017
On 27 September 2016, the Euromed Cities Network topped the ranking in the call for proposals issued by the European Interreg MED programme (2014-2020) as lead partner in the MEDNICE consortium working on the energy efficiency of public buildings.
MEDNICE: the MED programme Networks for Innovative Cooperation in Energy efficiency is a horizontal project, i.e. a strategic coordination, communication and capitalisation project, in a territory covering 13 countries from Portugal to Cyprus.
MEDNICE will be the special partner of the European institutions throughout the programme and will defend the specific features of the Mediterranean regions with regard to energy efficiency in public buildings.
The skills of the six European partners
Coordinated by the Euromed Cities Network, the project relies on the skills of five European partners operating as a network: the Energy Cities network, an energy network of cities based in France and Brussels; the Euro-Mediterranean University EMUNI, based in Slovenia; the Balkan and Black Sea Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe, represented by Greece’s North Aegean region; the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change based in Italy; and the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research in Spain.
The MEDNICE consortium will also include 16 associate partners from France, Belgium, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Greece, Italy and Montenegro.
Within the framework of MEDNICE, the Network will host its member cities, including those on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean that are not located within the territory of the Interreg MED programme, in order to reinforce the project’s impact, since the issue of energy efficiency in public buildings is common to the whole Mediterranean basin.
Energy efficiency performance
As a platform for innovative, shared energy efficiency solutions, the MEDNICE project will anchor a MED community focusing on energy-related issues facing public administrations in order to leverage project results and increase their impact on public policy. In the MED region, the design of most public buildings does not allow energy consumption to be reduced and does not improve their energy efficiency performance (EE). This is partly due to a lack of knowledge about shared responses to this transnational challenge.
The goal of MEDNICE is thus to reinforce the capacity of MED project partners by establishing a MED community and a transnational framework centred on EE in public buildings. By introducing training and mutual learning mechanisms, MEDNICE will help to strengthen the capacity of building managers in order to develop and implement better EE practice. A knowledge platform will make it possible to communicate and capitalise on project results. The cornerstone of the transnational peer network, it will lay the foundations for a MED identity.
MEDNICE will summarise and analyse EE practice through thematic documents and policies to be promoted on behalf of the MED community. MEDNICE ambassadors will disseminate and communicate messages arguing for MED-specific energy efficiency policies and their integration into appropriate strategies.
Launch meeting for the horizontal project and presentation of modular projects, 7-8 March 2017, Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen, Nice
The opening event emphasised MEDNICE’s role as a special partner for the European institutions, linking the European Union’s construction policies with the challenges specific to the Mediterranean basin.
Restating the goal of promoting and developing a wide range of analysis, financing and training tools for the Mediterranean region based on the results of the ten modular projects that will be coordinated by MEDNICE, the Euromed Cities Network presented the creation of an EEB Hub, an informal network of actors involved in Energy-Efficient Building issues. This will enable the dissemination of results and, earlier in the process, an evaluation of what is needed and what is still lacking, recommending favourable policies at European level.
Watch the interview with Sylvain Robert (European Commission Directorate General for Energy) and Bernard Massabo (General Secretary of the Euromed Cities Network) filmed by Azur TV.
Participants
The attendees at the “kick-off” meeting were:
Project consortium
- Euromed Cities Network
- CMCC
- EMUNI
- Energy Cities
- IREC
- North Aegean Region
Associate partners
- AViTeM
- Capénergies
- EUROCITIES
- The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region
European modular projects
- CESBA MED
- EDUFOOTPRINT
- ENERJ
- IMPULSE
- NEW FINANCE
- PRIORITEE
- SHERPA
- SISMA
- STEPPING
- TEESCHOOLS
Institutions
- European Commission
- Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur
Agencies, companies, influence groups
- The Nice Côte d’Azur Energy Performance Agency
- The Nice Côte d’Azur Chamber of Commerce and Industry – Ecobiz
- Club de Nice
- GRDF
- Schneider Electric
- WIT
Le programme
The Med Community 1st Annual Congress Nice, 4– 6 October 2017, Nice
“Choosing the route to Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings in the Med area” : a pathway to policies and practices.”
