C-Track 50 promotes sustainable and energy-efficient cities

105 Municipalities take part in an innovative initiative for energy efficiency and climate change

C-Trak 50 is an initiative designed to mobilize authorities at different levels of government - local and regional - and to help them reduce their emissions in order to achieve climate resilience and carbon neutrality by 2050.

There are 105 municipalities and 11 regions from 11 countries taking part in the initiative. They are working together in order to establish long-term cooperation in the fields of climate change management and project financing.

C-Track – Putting regions on track for carbon neutrality by 2050

The National Technical University of Athens is the leading partner in the project. The programme focuses on several areas that convey EU-specific priorities, namely:

• Multilevel governance - the importance of local and regional level is at the forefront of program development. Cornerstones have been set for cooperation between EU, national, regional and local levels through exchange programs, round tables, workshops, etc.
• Capacity Building and Awareness - One of the goals of the project is to build competencies at lower levels of government to deal with the effects of climate change. This is done mainly with regard to energy policies and strategic planning.
• Dissemination and communication of information - this is one of the important goals of the project to provide information in different countries and regions on good practices and opportunities offered by the initiative.

The program has a financial dimension, too, supporting projects in the field of sustainable energy and building plans and strategies at local and regional level.

To date, the results indicate the creation of 116 local and regional action plans on sustainable energy and climate change. Some 105 received funding with regard to the implementation of the tasks under the initiative. In addition, information was provided to 50,000 stakeholders on carbon neutrality.

A good example is the PentaHelih project, whose main objective is to build an integrated approach to multi-level energy and climate planning, involving participants from the following levels - citizens, NGOs, public and private sector representatives, as well as scientists and representatives of scientific institutions. The project will be tested in 8 municipalities in Norway, Croatia, Belgium, Spain and Latvia.

Another good example is Compete4SECAP, which should support the local and regional level in implementing their sustainable energy plans.

The C-Trak 50 initiative is another good example of how lower levels of government - regions and municipalities - can be a fully-fledged participant in the governance of the Union and address issues that are of paramount importance to them. Correctly addressing them at this level will also mean success for the EU in achieving its goals on a national and supranational level.