Last week, the meetMED project was invited to participate in the Clima-MED Workshop on the Action Plans for Access to Sustainable Energy and for Climate (PAAEDCs) held at the Centre of Training and Decentralisation Support (CFAD) in Tunis, Tunisia. The workshop was an occasion for meetMED and Clima-Med to explore the synergies between the two projects and identify areas of mutual interest for future closer cooperation.

Our Communication officer, Ms Alice Giallombardo, presented the meetMED Project at the presence of the representatives of the EU Delegation in Tunisia, the Tunisian Ministries for Local Affairs, Environment, and International cooperation, some NGOs, such as the WWF Tunisia and Tunisie Ecologie, and the representatives of around 20 Tunisian municipalities.

Despite their different scopes of action – meetMED targeting mostly the national agencies and ministries and Clima-Med focusing mostly on the local level –  the two projects share numerous goals, namely supporting sustainable climate and energy policies and strategies, identifying concrete pilot actions to be implemented by national and local authorities and facilitating climate investments and the setup of finance mechanisms at national and local levels.

When presenting meetMED activities taking place in Tunisia in the biennium 2109-2020, the audience at the Workshop showed a particular interest for the meetMED training courses, whose training packages are meant to be replicable across the SEMCs at different levels. Further collaboration between the two projects has been assessed as mutually beneficial and is envisaged soon.

Industries and enterprises working on EE and RES in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) are growing but currently not structured. Local markets are quite competitive and currently no policies are implemented to support and promote their development neither their synergies. Since they face competition from outside the region and look for neighboring markets to be adapted to their specificities, structuring EE and RES enterprises in the SEMCs could facilitate the creation of synergies and partnerships that will promote EE and RES in the region.

In an attempt to shed the light on the evolving importance of industrial associations in developing the RE and EE sectors at national and regional level, this meetMED sub-regional workshop focusing on the Mashreq countries aims at presenting the main results of the studies conducted, at exploring further possible modalities for supporting the industrial associations in the RE and EE fields and at finding shared suitable clustering methods at the presence of different regional stakeholders.

Organised by RCREEE in the framework of the meetMED project, the sub-regional workshop on “The creation of Regional Industrial Associations for the manufacturing of EE and RES Components” will take place on 13 November 2019 in Cairo, Egypt at the presence of relevant stakeholders of the RE and EE sectors in the SEMCs.

Co-organised by ADEME, ANME and ALMEE, this second regional meetMED workshop on Monitoring EE and RE Indicators in the Mediterranean Region will take place on 21-23 October 2019 in Tunis, Tunisia, and it is meant as the follow up event to the first workshop held last March in Beirut.

By supporting national agencies working in EE-related fields, it builds on the results of the MED-IEE1 project, which, between 2010 and 2013, compiled reliable data about EE indicators used in Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon and Tunisia between 1990 and 2010, having allowed for reliable comparison. This workshop aims to update these indicators for the 2012-2017 period and to adapt to the new expectations of each of the target countries. At the end of this work, four national reports and a regional report on EE trends in the region will be prepared.

In the context of the Paris Agreement, countries must resolutely commit to EE policies, and measure their impacts, particularly on the climate. The SEMCs detail the measures to be put in place by sector in the 3-year National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs). Monitoring the NEEAPs requires the definition of reliable indicators for assessing impacts, measuring progress and better defining realistic targets. Indicators will be tested in Tunisia and Lebanon and then presented in a final report.

This second regional meetMED workshop aims at supporting national teams in analysing indicators, preparing their national reports and identifying specific country needs for further studies.

The event is by invitation only.

Following on the scoping missions conducted in Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt, this event aims at presenting the collected results about the EE and RE market potential areas with higher impact on local economy and job creation in these representative countries, with a particular focus on which sectors are labor-intensive, and which parts of the relevant value chains can create a higher local value.

Organised by RCREEE, this regional conference takes place in Cairo, Egypt on 12 November 2019, at the presence of the most relevant energy stakeholders from the SEMCs and aims at presenting the main results of the research regarding the EE and RES market potential, value chain, local manufacturing and job creation. Furthermore, the event is an opportunity to brainstorm on possible ways to create a tool capturing all the effects RE and EE have on the creation of local value at the regional level.

The French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) and the Palestinian Energy Centre (PEC) have jointly organised a technical mission to Ramallah, Palestine on 17-19 September 2019, as part of the activities of the Workstream “National RE EE Strategies and Policies”.

The meetMED REN experts, Mr. Didier Bosseboeuf and Mr. Thierry Méraud met with the main Palestinian institutions involved in local energy policy and energy efficiency actions (Palestinian Energy Authority, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Palestinian Electricity Regulatory Council, Ministry of Environment Affairs) and other relevant stakeholders.

The mission aimed at evaluating opportunities and constraints to implement EE monitoring in Palestine with the same approach that has been tested in Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon and Morocco (see the main outcomes of the Workshop held in Lebanon last March here) and complements the mission carried out in Jordan in July 2019.

The first elements gathered during this mission are rather encouraging, since it has confirmed the interest of all the Palestinian interlocutors in the creation of a common regional Observatory, it has highlighted that EE tools and approaches have already been carried out in the country, and it has clearly highlighted PEC’s expectations and real needs. The third and last mission is foreseen for next November 2019 in Egypt.

The meetMED training seminar on the methodology for the elaboration of energy audits in industrial Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) is taking place from 8 to 12 December 2019 in Cairo, Egypt.

Hosted by the Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE), this event is co-organized by CRES (Greece) and the ANME (Tunisia).

The course is designed to provide meetMED REN experts with the necessary skills and knowledge to improve energy efficiency and profitability in the industrial sector and to gain required methodology for the completion of a thorough energy audit. Furthermore, the course will include exchange of best practices in planning and implementing EE plans and related measures for industrial SMEs between meetMED targeted countries as well as deliver established best practices for optimizing energy-intensive equipment and systems.

Target participants are public agencies, industrial sector, energy experts in charge of promoting EE programs and application with a focus on the industrial sector.

Quality for RES and EE products and services has become increasingly important as RES and EE applications (e.g. building insulation materials, energy efficient windows, solar water heaters, energy-efficient appliances) are being largely used in the Mediterranean region. In order to ensure minimum standards, necessary quality infrastructures should be available for the successful implementation of specific RES and EE programmes. Those quality infrastructures include laboratories, testing facilities, as well as inspection, certification or accreditation bodies.

This workshop is an opportunity to convene national and regional consultations with groups of experts, through sessions that will be dedicated to verifying and discussing the results collected through the questionnaires with respect to the level of quality control infrastructures in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) as well as to analyzing their needs, opportunities, weaknesses and strengths.

Furthermore, the event aims to compile all stakeholders’ opinions and recommendations for developing a regional quality market for RES and EE sectors with significant suggestions on how that could be implemented in the different SEMCs.

This regional workshop will take place in Algiers, Algeria next on 30 October 2019 and will be attended by representatives of conformity assessment bodies, metrology institutes, standardization organizations and accreditation councils from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan.

Regional energy experts and industrial associations will actively contribute to the discussion in order to build up a shared consolidated approach aimed at the creation of a regional quality harmonized market.

The event is by invitation only.

The 2nd UfM Energy and Climate Business Forum was held in Lisbon, Portugal on 18 July 2019. Organised by the Union for the Mediterranean together with the Portuguese Ministry of Environment and Energy Transition and the Portuguese Energy Agency (ADENE), the event specifically focused on “Supporting local authorities in their efforts towards the energy transition” and gathered 150 representatives of local authorities, mayors, stakeholders, private sector investors, companies, service providers, international financial institutions and international and regional organisations working in the field of energy and climate action.

In this context, Ms Roberta Boniotti, MEDENER Secretary General, was invited to present the meetMED Project. The energy transition is indeed at the heart of the meetMED Project, whose main goal is fostering the energy transition throughout all Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries (SEMCs) under the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI). Ms Boniotti illustrated meetMED activities particularly related to the main topic of the Forum: support to public authorities and local stakeholders. Firstly, she mentioned the establishment of a Regional Expert Network (meetMED REN), composed by more than 50 experts coming from the national agencies for EE and RE of 13 Mediterranean Countries. Its aim is to provide the necessary technical support to national, regional and local authorities for the assessment of the existing energy policies and the implementation of the necessary most advanced energy policies in the future Energy Transition Scenario. Secondly, she cited the elaboration of the meetMED training package and the organization of the corresponding training course, focused on the use of a sustainable energy design toolkit for public authorities and aimed at reinforcing public awareness and capacity building of local stakeholders.

As stated by Ms Boniotti, with respect to the implementation of integrated professional training courses, the meetMED project supports the planning of vocational training schemes for RES and EE experts in order to consolidate and improve the skills of relevant actors, who can be able to manage effectively RES and EE market penetration at the national, regional and local level.

With respect to regional cooperation, which was another key point of the Forum, the meetMED project supports regional collaboration, especially to build technical capacity for the energy transition in the eight target Countries of the project: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia. Besides the intergovernmental cooperation among the SEMCs national energy agencies, meetMED has sought to build synergies with other EU-funded projects targeting the energy transition in the Mediterranean region, namely CLIMAMED, SWITCHMED and WES. Furthermore, in the framework of the Project, cooperation and interaction at the regional, national and local level are deemed necessary in order to spread common monitoring tools and benchmarks, such as EE and RE indicators and policy measures (ODYSSEE MURE), which can help public administrations to monitor periodically and evaluate the impact of EE and RE policies.

Finally, Ms Boniotti concluded by stating the importance of regional networks as potential experimental hubs where better dissemination and communication strategies as well as awareness-raising campaigns on EE and RE benefits can be developed by providing shared guidelines, studies and innovative tools that target different audiences.

On 18 June 2019, ANME hosted the second meeting of the meetMED REN experts, gathering the members of the task force on energy efficiency (EE) in buildings. This activity was coordinated by ANME (Tunisia), ADENE (Portugal), ADEME (France), ALMEE (Lebanon) and RCREEE.

During the workshop, the REN experts were asked to present the main achievements and challenges in the implementation of national measures for the EE in buildings and to discuss key issues relating to behavioral changes, financing, awareness-raising activities and capacity building, encountered at the national level.

The meeting was also an opportunity to share policy recommendations, which will contribute to draft the meetMED report on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Expected in October 2019, the report will cover the following meetMED countries: Algeria, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia.

At the end of the workshop, ANME General Director and the Secretariat of the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GABC) signed the Tunisian Alliance for Buildings and Construction (TABC), which is the second national alliance for the building sector launched in the Mediterranean region – after the Moroccan one. The TABC will bring together the stakeholders in order to define a national action plan for energy efficient buildings and renovation in Tunisia.

The preliminary conclusions of the meetMED Workshop on EE in buildings are available here.

The two-days Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) meeting on Sustainability, Energy Efficiency, Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in Housing took place on 27-28 June 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. The event aimed at identifying essential elements to be incorporated into the Action Plan on Urban Development for 2021-2027, by highlighting opportunities for twinning, capacity building, field visits, and raising awareness on EU calls for funding in the fields of sustainable, energy efficient, low carbon and resilient housing. In addition, its goal was to identify project ideas on sustainable housing that the European Investment Bank (EIB) could consider under its UfM-labelled Urban Projects Finance Initiative-Economic Resilience Initiative (UPFI-ERI), as well as UNIDO under its Sustainable Cities programme, by exploring possibilities for combining grants, loans, guarantees and finance strategies.

In this context, Dr Matteo Barra, meetMED Project Manager, was invited to illustrate the meetMED activities related to energy efficiency in the building sector in order to explore mutually reinforcing synergies and avoid possible duplication of efforts. In the field of energy efficient buildings, meetMED has consolidated its task forces of experts within the broader meetMED Regional Expert Network (meetMED REN), which counts 56 members from 13 countries. The meetMED REN taskforce on EE in buildings met last June in Tunis to discuss the national papers, the regional report (expected in Autumn 2019) and the preliminary conclusions on the institutional, regulatory and policy design. The meetMED REN taskforce on EE and RE monitoring, instead, met in Beirut in March 2019 to update the common monitoring tools in Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia and spread them to Jordan, Egypt and Palestine. The taskforce on EE in appliances, then, will discuss national papers and regional report in Cairo next October 2019. Finally, a meetMED professional training on EE in the building sector will take place in Tunis next January 2020.

Inputs proposed by Dr Barra to the UfM Action Plan for Urban Development (2021-2027) included creating synergies between meetMED activities on EE in the building sector and those of the UfM Working Group (WG) on Sustainable and Affordable Housing. Among others, UfM delegates were invited to join the meetMED taskforces as well as the meetMED professional trainings, so as to ensure a broader geographical impact of the meetMED activities. The institutional link between experts in housing and experts in energy is essential to implement the energy dimension of the urban agenda and, vice versa, the urban dimension of the energy agenda. This could result also in a coordination between the UfM REEE Platform and the UfM WG on Affordable Housing, the involvement of experts from the meetMED taskforce on EE in Buildings, and the support to the national and regional dimensions of the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GABC) and of the Programme for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB) as incubators of pilot projects in the sector.

The meeting hosted also interventions by GABC, PEEB, EnvirobatBDM, the Barcelona School of Architecture, the World Green Building Council, Housing Europe, UN-Habitat, UNIDO and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The next meeting of the UfM WG on Sustainable and Affordable Housing will take place in November 2019 whilst the next annual meeting of the UfM Energy Platforms in January 2020, both at the UfM Headquarters in Barcelona.