The energy transition requires the active involvement of society, local authorities and associations, businesses and innovation centres. This ecosystem of actors in the territory needs to identify, coordinate and establish partnerships to accelerate the transition in an inclusive and green way. For this reason, the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA), partner of the Interreg MED Renewable Energy project, is organizing and hosting the ETU Initiative Conference: how can the ETU support your energy transition?  in Barcelona, Spain and online on the 16^th and 17^th March 2022. All sessions are free of charge and registration is open.

We are delighted to join this event and support the work of energy experts and representatives from the Ecosystemic Transition Unit (ETU) Initiative’s Flagship Case municipalities. Our Head of Regional Development, Mauricio O’Brien, will be one of the speakers in the experts’ panel on the first day, tackling the topic of Resilient Communities and Territories: Planning, Financing and Governance.

The conference aims to highlight topics such as the potential of renewable energy communities to reduce energy poverty, methods for financing the green energy transition, how to develop Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SECAPs), how to optimise biomass production, and more.

Check out the full agenda:

Wednesday 16th March 2022

• 9:00 – 9:15 Registration

• 9:15 – 9:30 Institutional welcome
  Danilo Ceh - Project Manager, BISTRA (Interreg MED Renewable Energy Lead Partner); Rym Ayadi - President, Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association (EMEA) (Interreg MED Renewable Energy project partner); Sophie Scarvelis - Project Manager, Interreg MED Programme Joint Secretariat

• 9:30 – 10:45 KEYNOTE PANEL: Energy Transition in Rural and Island Areas: Challenges and Opportunities
  Grammenos Mastrojeni - Senior Deputy Secretary General, Union for the Mediterranean (UfM); Julije Domac - President, FEDARENE; Lisanne Raderschall - Policy Analyst, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); Víctor Marcos Morell - Director of Renewable Energies, IDAE (tbc); Kostas Komninos - Director, DAFNI Networ

• 10:45 – 11:00 Coffee break

• 11:00 – 12:15 ETU Initiative Flagship Cases: Experiences and Lessons Learnt
  Cynthia Echave - Project Coordinator, EMEA; Carmelo Licitra - Technical Officer and Energy Manager of the Municipality of Ragusa, Italy; Antonio Lecha - ETU Flagship Case Onda (Spain); Manos Kamilakis, Katerina Margariti (TBC) - ETU Flagship Case Naxos, Greece; ETU Flagship Case Brdovec (Croatia)

• 12:15 -13:30 EXPERT PANEL: Resilient Communities and Territories: Planning, Financing and Governance
  Jesús Pulido - Head of DG Infrastructures Ministry Ecological Transition Spain; Alberto Giaconia - Researcher and Project Coordinator, ENEA Italy; Beatriz Camacho - Ávila – CLIMATE KIC – EIT; Nuri Palmarada - Som Energía – REScoop; Mauricio O’Brien – ECN

• 13:30 – 14:30 Lunch break
• 14:30 -16:00

PARALLEL SESSION ETU Pillar 1 Energy Planning Davide Astiago PRISMI PLUS Miguel García ETU Assessment Case Los Pedroches, Spain Tomislav Novosel NetZeroCities Alexia Boulanger ENER.COM Clemence Contant Communications Manager, EnerMaps – EU Horizon 2020 project	PARALLEL SESSION ETU Pillar 2 Energy Facilities Ivana Ostoic PEGASUS Sergio Olivero ETU Flagship Case, Magliano Alpi, Italy Bamboo (tbc) Barbara La Licata and Arnau Gonzalez AURORAL Davide Cozzella GIFT Project
PARALLEL SESSION ETU Pillar 3 Energy Communities Jose Miguel ETU Flagship Case Monachil, Spain Santi Martinez KM0 Hrvoje Maras SocialRES & SHARes Lluis Amat Vall d’en Bas (online) Ruth Borrego POVERTEE (tbc)	PARALLEL SESSION ETU Pillar 4 Energy Governance and Financing Francesco Filipi LOCAL4GREEN PLUS Representative ETU Flagship Case Brdovec, Croatia Carmelo Licitra ETU Flagship Case Ragusa, Italy Representative ETU Flagship Case Onda, Spain Iva Tustanovski H2020 REFINE & SMAFIN projects

• 16:00 – 17:30 Coffee break and ETU Initiative info session

Thursday 17th March 2022

• 8:45 – 9:00 Registration
• 9:00 – 9:30 Welcome
  Danilo Čeh - Project Manager, BISTRA (Interreg MED Renewable Energy Lead Partner); Cynthia Echave - Project Coordinator, EMEA; Curzio Cervelli - Coordinator, Interreg MED Programme Joint Secretaria

• 9:30 – 9:15 KEYNOTE SPEECH: Sustainable Transition Initiative and financing the transition
  Rym Ayadi - President, EMEA

• 10:15– 11:45 EXPERT PANEL: Governance and Cooperation in Mediterranean
  Alessandra Sensi - Head of Sector, Environment and Blue Economy, UfM; Rosa Surinach - Partnerships, Advocacy and Outreach Coordinator, UN-Habitat; Giorgio Mosangini - Team Leader, Regional Activity Centre for Cleaner Production (SCP/ RAC); Josep Canals – MedCities; Rashid Ali Abdallah - Executive Director of African Union Energy Commission (tbc); Chuckwumerije Okereke - Director of Center for Climate and Development University Ndufu-Alike Nigeria; Mohamed Adow - Founder and Director of Power Shift Africa (tbc)

• 11:45 – 12:00 Coffee break
• 12:00 – 13:15 ONLINE SESSION: Sustainable finance
  Moderator: Rym Ayadi – EMEA; Maria Shawn-Barragan - European Investment Bank; Nagla Bahr - Credit Guarantee, Egypt; John Kofi Adomakoh - GCB Bank Plc, Ghana; Kwame Sarpong - KPMG, Ghan

DISCUSSION GROUP 1 Territorial Resilience • Moderator: EMEA Introduction: UN-Habitat, United Cities Global Leadership

DISCUSSION GROUP 2 Green Transition • Moderator: SCP/RAC Introduction: BETA, REVOLVE, CPRM (tbc)

• 13:15 – 14:00 Plenary session and wrap-up
• 14:00 – 15:00 Networking lunch