Conférence internationale de La « Convention des Maires » à Tbilisi
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La Convention des Maires s’étend à l’Est
Les 21 et 22 octobre s’est tenue à Tbilissi la première grande conférence de villes d’Europe centrale organisée par la Commission Européenne pour étendre la Convention des Maires à l’Est de l’Union Européenne, dans la zone dite « de voisinage ». Energy Cities y était représentée par son Vice-Président Denis Baupin, adjoint au Maire de Paris. « 150 participants de 11 pays d’Europe centrale et 43 villes étaient présents, » emmenée par la ville hôte première signataire de la Convention des Maires de l’ensemble de la Région. Une dynamique se met en place, positive aussi bien pour la lutte contre le dérèglement climatique et les politiques énergétiques locales que pour la consolidation de la démocratie dont les villes sont souvent un pilier indispensable. Prochaine étape : l’extension au Sud, notamment au Sud de la Méditerranée. Deux initiatives (l’est et le sud) qui ne peuvent que renforcer la démarche globale de la Convention des Maires et cette diplomatie des villes qui prend le relais d’une diplomatie des Etats parfois défaillante !
Retour presse de cet évènement.
International Conference on the Covenant of Mayors launched in Tbilisi
By Mzia Kupunia
Friday, October 22
Tbilisi is hosting a two-day conference on the Covenant of Mayors initiative for cities in the Eastern Neighboring Countries of the EU. The Covenant of Mayors, launched in 2008, consists of the cities which have taken a formal commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent through energy efficiency and renewable energy actions. According to organizers of the conference, attended by 150 participants from over 45 cities of the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia region, cities are giving a “strong sign” that they want to take an “active role” in addressing growing energy concerns affecting the lives of their citizens.
The capital of Georgia is the first capital city in the Eastern Neighborhood countries of the EU to sign the Covenant of Mayors. So far 17 cities of Ukraine, 5 cities from Moldova and one city from Armenia have joined or made a clear commitment to join the Covenant of Mayors. Speaking at a special press conference before opening the conference on Thursday, Tbilisi Mayor, Gigi Ugulava said the aim of the meeting is to “jointly cope with global challenges.” “Small or big nations, states and cities should equally be concerned about this problem.”
“That’s why we joined an agreement of Mayors which unites many European cities, and the cities in the European Neighborhood policy, including Tbilisi. In frames of the conference we will talk about different issues, such as environment protection, ecology and education,” Ugulava told journalists “Our main aim is to show the society the pragmatic need of all the novelties that we are planning to introduce. We want to show our citizens that all of these measures are of practical importance for our future generations,” he added.
Georgian Environment Minister, Goga Khachidze hailed Tbilisi’s joining the Covenant of Mayors and holding a conference dedicated to environment issues in Tbilisi. “In a very short period of time the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office has made significant efforts in the direction of decreasing CO2 emissions through various initiatives. By implementing such initiatives in reality, we and most of all Tbilisi becomes a full member of the European society, which has been thinking about environment issues for quite a long time,” Khachidze noted.
The Environment Minister said fulfilling the commitments under Covenant of Mayors is “not an easy task”, however added that “there are signs that meeting the obligation deadlines are absolutely realistic.” “More than half a million trees have been planted in the last several years in Tbilisi with the coordination of the Tbilisi Mayor’s Office. In addition to this, there are numerous ongoing projects aimed at improving the ecological situation in the city. I would like to mention one of them – this is the initiative of the Tbilisi Mayor to implement a modern electric transport system in the capital,” Khachidze stated.
One of the most important messages of the conference is that cities should stand together to fight against climate change, Vice Mayor of Paris Denis Baupin said at the press conference. “It is very important that we are all mobilized against climate change. There is a very important message that we want to stress – that we all together want to fight against climate change, that we, the cities, will do our part of the job,” Paris Vice Mayor noted “ We, as cities have a lot of capacity to fight greenhouse gas by developing renewable energies and by efficiently managing public transport systems. Both big and small countries all have to do their job and of course the rich countries have to help others to do what they can,” he added.
The International conference on the Covenant of Mayors closes today.
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Tbilisi ready to help reduce CO2 emissions
by Ia Natsvlishvili – 22.10.2010
Ecological and environmental concerns are the focus of an international conference held as part of the EU Covenant of Mayors project, hosted by Tbilisi on October 21-22.
Gigi Ugulava, the Mayor of Tbilisi told the conference, “it is not important [whether you are] big cities or small ones, we have to fight against ecological and environmental issues together.”
The Tbilisi Municipality joined the EU Covenant of Mayors in April in an effort to help reduce the amount of CO2 emissions in the capital. Since then, the Municipality has prepared an action plan to reduce pollutants and maintain a clean environment in the city.
“Better transport planning in the city [and] the restoration of the Tram service.. are our main tasks,” Zviad Archuadze, the head of the City Hall’s Economic Service Department told Georgia Today.
The Covenant of Mayors was launched in 2008 and represents a formal commitment by City Councils to a 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions through measures to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy. The project was developed by the European Commission with the aim of cutting emissions and improving energy efficiency at a municipal level. Currently, approximately 2,000 cities and towns across 27 member States and 10 partner countries have signed the Covenant. Among the signatories are 21 capital cities in the EU and three capitals in partner states.
The two-day conference in Tbilisi was organized by the EU with the support of the EU-funded INOGATE project Support to Energy Market Integration and Sustainable Energy (SEMISE). The project is being implemented within the framework of ongoing energy cooperation between the EU and countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
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