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Summary

Both CEPS and Forum Europe would like to thank all those who participated at the conference this week. If you have any questions regarding this event please contact James Wilmott on +44 (0) 2920 783 022 or email james.wilmott@forum-europe.com.

You may also be interested in attending our forthcoming event looking at electric vehicles in Europe. More information can be found at: http://www.e-vehicles2011.eu

Speakers include

Günther Oettinger

Commissioner Responsible for Energy

European Commission

Jan Olbrycht

Member

European Parliament

Nicola Beer

Secretary of State for European Affairs

State of Hessen, Germany

Mercedes Bresso

President

Committee of the Regions

Christian Egenhofer

Senior Research Fellow

Centre for European Policy Studies

Willy Tomboy

Director Environmental Affairs

Toyota Motor Europe

Erwin Dolmans

Senior Director, Global Outdoor Lighting

Philips

Denis Baupin

Deputy Mayor

Paris

Göran Näslund

Global Business Development Manager Utilities

Vodafone

Pekka Sauri

Deputy Mayor

Helsinki

There is an increasing recognition that urban areas – home to around three-quarters of the EU’s citizens – hold one of the main keys to addressing climate change. Many in fact accept the view that the fight against climate change will be won or lost in urban areas.

The concentration of emissions caused by city activity (either directly within the metropolitan area or by goods and services, such as electricity generation, that are produced beyond its boundaries) allows the potential to address a significant amount of emissions at one stroke. Local governments can have considerable regulatory and financial power to encourage low-carbon and sustainable investment while at the same time being suppliers of services, consumers of energy and other natural resources, purchasers of products and services, planners and instigators of change. The European Commission launched the Covenant of Mayors initiative in 2009, to give recognition to, accelerate and support the actions of urban and local governments.

This joint Forum Europe and CEPS conference takes stock of ongoing EU policy developments and will ask what framework and what policies will be needed to ensure continuity and even acceleration of the many promising local government initiatives that exist.  For the EU, the main challenge is to maintain the momentum and translate the initiatives as quickly as possible into ‘real and measurable’ emissions reductions. This will depend to a large extent on whether local governments have the capacity to act, EU and member state policies are consistent and finally, whether tools that ensure that emissions reductions are measured, reported and verified exist.

This conference will bring together representatives from the EU institutions, local governments, member states, business and industries as solution providers as well as other stakeholders.

For further details on this conference, please contact:

James Wilmott

Director

Forum Europe

Tel: +44 (0) 2920 783 022

Mob: +44 (0) 7760 160 618

Email: james.wilmott@forum-europe.com