On 21 May 2019, in Heidelberg, Germany, was held a conference on “Catalyzing Climate Action at European and Local Level”, part of the BEACON (Bridging European & Local Climate Action) project, in which NTEF participates as a member of the consortium together with eight other organizations from seven countries. At the heart of the conference was the opportunity for participants from municipalities in all countries to exchange experience with colleagues across Europe on possible practical solutions climate change mitigation.
The conference was organized as a combination of plenary sessions and interactive parallel workshops, divided into three thematic areas:
– Political flow – Climate action for local development with selected themes such as addressing energy poverty, local energy unions and sustainable mobility, discussed with the participation of experts and in small groups.
– Technical Stream – focusing on climate change mitigation solutions, schemes to stimulate energy savings in schools and funding local climate and energy actions.
– Inspiration and Communication – focusing on the effective transmission of climate change information to local stakeholders.
The Bulgarian delegation included representatives of local authorities from the Lyulin district, Sofia, from Pavel Banya, Veliko Tarnovo and Samokov – the municipalities where the 15 schools participating in the project are located, as well as two representatives of the NTEF.
During the seminar dedicated to energy education in schools and financing of local actions for the climate, the mayor of Lyulin district, Milko Mladenov, presented the pilot initiative at 79 Secondary School “Indira Gandi”, which consists of three main aspects – renovation of the school building, implementation of savings verification protocols (created under Horizon 2020 – ICP), alongside the three-year educational initiative to save energy in the school by changing the behavior of pupils and teachers.
