The ENVE Commission organised a Multilevel Climate and Energy Dialogue on the The Renovation Wave in Recovery and Resilience Plans in cooperation with the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU, as a part of the Joint Action Plan for an Enhanced Cooperation on the Renovation Wave between the European Committee of the Regions and the European Commission.
As the European Union Member States are continuing to submit their Recovery and Resilience Plans, the event aimed to gather the points of view from different institutions and reflect together on how the Renovation Wave has been included in the Recovery and Resilience Plans.
During the debates local and regional leaders from all over Europe underlined that the Renovation wave has many dimensions and funds must be used for sustainable projects in order to achieve the climate goals and have a resilient economic recovery.
Markku Markkula, Chair of the Espoo City Board and President of Helsinki Region stressed that "the potential of using RRF funds for an extensive business and economic transformation to improve the economic growth in the EU permanently. In each Member State, this requires systemic measures based on a combination of reforms and private industrial investments. These need to support sustainable growth and repair the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Especially in the energy systems, this means local level public-private partnerships to leverage investment, such as the Espoo Clean Heat programme, which is the cornerstone for us to be among the first carbon-neutral cities already by 2030. Our activities also include household cooperative level measures focusing on renovation and replacing oil-fired heating systems."
The debates between representatives of the European Committee of the Regions, the European Parliament, the Permanent Representations to the EU and the European Commission highlighted that funds must be used to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050 through skilling and reskilling worker to construct more energy efficient houses, creating new jobs and boosting our EU technology with the help of the green and digital transition.