Roger Léron Award

The Roger Léron Award celebrates outstanding individuals who have significantly contributed to the energy transition at a local or regional level and who have also made a difference at the European level. Established in 2014, the Prize established is named in memory of Roger Léron, who was a former president and founder of FEDARENE as well as a great contributor to the regional and local sustainable energy field throughout his life. Like him, FEDARENE believes that regional and local levels of governance play a central role in energy and climate issues, through their competence in many policy areas, their proximity to citizens, their thorough knowledge of the territory. In fact, innovative actions led at the local/regional level often trigger impacts at a wider level with implications that expand well beyond the initially planned areas.

Many people are working on the ground to advance the Energy Transition, whether they are a part of a local or regional energy agency, a public authority, a non-profit organisation or a private company. All of these people show the same creativity/strategic vision, leadership and impact to scale up energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy sources. The Roger Léron Award was established to reward their work and recognize their achievements.

Past editions

2022 Edition

On the 27th of September, Reinhard Six was announced as the winner of the seventh Roger Léron Award. Reinhard’s lifelong contributions to energy efficiency saw him work with Roger Léron at Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Énergie Environnement before moving to the European Investment Bank where he set up ELENA, providing technical assistance for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments. Read the summary of the ceremony here.

2020 Edition

For its 6th edition, FEDARENE decided to replace the traditional call for nominations by a major retrospective into the past editions of the Prize, allowing to shed light one more time on all nominations received over the past 5 years. On the 26th of November 2020, Gérard Dellinger was thus announced as winner of the 2020 Roger Léron Award during the first virtual Ceremony of the Prize. Mr Dellinger is the former mayor of Saint-Julien-en-Quint, a rural village located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, France, and the founder of ACROPREV, a local association for clean energy and mobility. Read the summary of the ceremony here.

2019 Edition

On the 9th of October 2019, Søren Hermansen received the fifth Roger Léron Award. Søren has been a driving force in the transformation of Samsø into a self-sufficient island in renewable energy.

2018 Edition

The 4th edition of the Roger Léron Award was concluded on the 10th October 2018 with the Ceremony at the Palais des Académies in Brussels and the announcement of Andy Bull as winner. Andy Bull is an ‘early adopter’ of new sustainable technologies and ideas who saw the potential of on-farm anaerobic digestion in Mid Wales.

2017 Edition

The 4th edition of the Roger Léron Award was concluded on the e name of the 2017 winner, Ljubomir Majdandzic, was revealed on the evening of the 5th December 2017 during the ceremony at the Bip in Brussels. Ljubomir Majdandzic was one of the first to promote sustainable energy in Croatia. He promoted the concept of Croatia’s 100% renewable energy economy with the support of the Energy Protection and Efficiency Fund (EPEEF). 

2016 Edition

For this second edition, the jury selected Wolfgang Jilek as winner of the Prize. After several years of being one of the Managers of the Styrian Energy Agency, M. Jilek became Energy Commissioner of Styria. He updated the Styrian Energy Strategy, targeting efficiency, RES, district heating and cogeneration, founding rural cooperatives to operate heat plants. Read the press release.

2015 Edition

2015 was the first edition of the Roger Léron Award – and also the celebration of the 25th anniversary of FEDARENE. The trophy was handed over on the evening of 16th June to Herbert Stava. Starting in 1985 as the city councillor for the environment in his Austrian hometown, Mr Stava has been continuously engaged in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainability. He founded Energiepark Bruck/Leitha, an innovation and development centre to transition his hometown towards a 100% renewable energy city and in a second step to develop the whole region towards 100% energy independence. Read the press release.