CASCADE Cities exchanging on local energy leadership June 2011 – May 2014

1. CASCADE Cities exchanging on local energy leadership June 2011 – May 2014 Contract number: IEE/10/217/SI2.592431 Last update: December 2011

2. General information Budget: €2 Million (75% financed by the EU) Coordinator: EUROCITIES Expert partners, one for each of the three thematic areas: Wuppertal Institute – thematic expert for renewable energy and distributed generation Koucky & Partners – thematic expert for energy in urban transport City of Malmö – thematic expert for energy efficient buildings and districts Partner cities: Amaroussion, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Burgas, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gateshead, Genoa, Gijón, Malmo, Mannheim, Milan, Nantes, Stockholm, Sunderland, Tampere, Terrassa, Venice and Warsaw.

3. Background CASCADE’s goals complement Europe 2020’s climate change and energy targets: • 20% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels • 20% of energy to come from renewable sources • 20% increase in energy efficiency Targets group are medium to large European cities: European cities: • Are home and workplace for 80% of the population • Offer a very high potential for emission reduction Medium and large cities: • Share common challenges in implementing local energy policies • Would benefit from increased coordination with each other to share successful practices Milan, Italy

4. Project summary • CASCADE supports cities to achieve European objectives on energy efficiency, renewable energy and reducing CO2 emissions by 2020 • Through large-scale networking, mutual learning and best practice sharing activities, the CASCADE project will reach progressively larger numbers of cities over the course of the project • Partner cities will learn with and from each otherabout the design and implementation of sustainable energy projects, and will be then able to share the knowledge and skills with other cities Burgas, Bulgaria

5. Objectives • Improve and acceleratethe implementation of sustainable energy action plans (SEAPs) and related local sustainable targets for sustainable energy • Optimise networking and mutual learning between cities for meaningful and sustained communication and sharing of good practices • Promote the position of cities as transfer agents within their country to overcome the language barrier and extending the reach of the project Stockholm, Sweden

6. ‘Cascading’ levels of networking and mutual learning Year 1 – In depth peer learning visits among 19 partner cities Year 2 – study tours, work shadowing and mentoring, 20 additional cities (mainly from new EU member states) Year 3 – national and regional networking across 11 member states

7. City goals Terrassa, Spain – 20% reduction in CO2 by 2020 (compared to 2005 levels) Nantes, France – 3% annual reduction in CO2 emissions until 2025 Warsaw, Poland – 20% reduction in energy use in all sectors by 2020 (compared to 2007 levels)

8. City projects Eindhoven, the Netherlands – In addition to existing biomass energy plants; preparations for a new plant converting kitchen and garden waste Amaroussion, Greece – Eco-driving training for drivers for the municipal transport bus agency Tampere, Finland – Low carbon urban planning for the development of new housing areas in two greenfield sites ("Vuores" 13 000 inhabitants, "Nurmi-Sorila" 12 000 inhabitants)

9. Expected results Increased capacity, knowledge and skills in local authorities to design and implement sustainable energy action plans Delivery of tested formats for networking and mutual learning activities on local energy leadership Improvement in delivery of sustainable energy policies in medium to large European cities Demonstrated local energy leadershipat national, regional and European level Mannheim, Germany

10. Partners and contacts Project Coordinator: Jorgina Cuixart, EUROCITIES jorgina.cuixart@eurocities.euTel +32 2 552 0878 Partners www.cascadecities.eu