“Connecting the Unconnected” a recap of the IMEAS and C-track 50 event

On the 19th of June, during the EU Sustainable Energy Week, project partners and participants of IMEAS and C-track 50 discussed how to achieve a better understanding of interactions between actors at various governance levels – a knowledge that represents a key element for a successful energy transition.

In different EU countries, different governance levels have dissimilar backgrounds, conflicting mechanisms, incentives and reporting tools. The IMEAS and C-track 50 projects study the framework conditions for the integrated energy transition. They provide tools and guidance for all governance levels.

In the beginning, Roberta Roberto (ENEA) and Alexandra Papadopoulou (NTUA), lead partners of IMEAS and C-Track 50 presented the objectives of the individual projects to put them into context with the following presentations and discussions on Multi-Level Governance and the connections throughout the governance structure.

Afterwards, keynotes by Michael Hübner (BMVIT Austria) and Sara Verones (Provincia Autonoma di Trento) provided insights into the connections between the EU, national, state, regional, and the local level. The keynotes focused on how EU-Energy policy can be brought from the EU-level down to the local level. This included analysing the functioning of such connection, identifying barriers as well as the opportunities, and how this process can be improved to enhance connectedness and permeability.

Additionally, a roundtable was installed questioning the framework conditions impacting an integrated energy transition across the different governance levels in the EU.

The last part of the event, a marketplace, allowed the participants to get insight into the IMEAS and C-Track 50 projects, to discuss the challenge of Multi-Level Governance, to get in touch with project partners, and to learn how the IMEAS platform and the IMEAS deliverables can give support for a low carbon energy transition.