Regional economic benefits of energy transition are often overlooked, says EESC

Instead of being exclusively viewed as an instrument of environmental and climate policy, energy policy should directly serve regional development goals

On 31 May, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a hearing on Energy Transition in Europe’s Regions to shine a spotlight on the regional economic benefits of the shift to decentralised and low-carbon energy supplies, a topic which has remained largely unexplored despite the fact that the transition has a distinctly regional dimension.

As the two case studies presented at the hearing have shown, the shift to clean and renewable energies can prove to be particularly beneficial to less prosperous regions, thereby reducing inequalities between Europe's different areas and securing improved social and regional cohesion across the EU. Locally produced civic energy was also shown to reduce energy poverty.

The hearing gathered representatives of the EESC, the Commission and the Committee of the Regions, as well as mayors of municipalities actively implementing the transition to a smart and low-carbon energy supply.

Its aim was to collect evidence about the regional economic effects of the EU's energy policy, with the results due to feed into the EESC opinion on The effects of a new carbon-free, decentralised and digitalised energy supply structure on jobs and regional economies. The opinion, currently under preparation, will be presented at the EESC's July session in the presence of European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič.

We have seen a lot of creativity in the regions and great dedication yields excellent results. There are many success stories from all across Europe involving regions, cities, villages and cooperatives promoting the energy transition – resulting in reduced CO2 emissions in a region, improved energy efficiency in housing, and decreased rates of energy poverty, the rapporteur of the opinion Lutz Ribbe said.

One of the successful examples presented at the hearing was the project implemented by the Feldheim community in the German town of Treuenbrietzen. Combining wind, solar and bioenergy including biogas, plants and woodchip plants, the project has reached its goal of securing a clean and independent decentralised energy supply for the community which had not been well-off in the past.

The implementation of the energy transition in our area has been a grassroots movement, from the bottom up. We are not part of the wealthy periphery of Berlin, in fact we went bankrupt in 1996. People had to take initiatives themselves, the mayor of Treuenbrietzen, Michael Knape, told the hearing.

The project, implemented progressively since 1995, is a joint endeavour of the local population, an agricultural cooperative and an energy company, Mr Knape said, adding that it had helped secure jobs in the area and had also created energy surpluses which are now sold to others.

Being poor makes you creative. Our population used to sell potatoes to Berlin. Now we supply the capital with energy, Mr Knape said.

The project was financed by private investments, by citizens directly and through EU and state funding. Feldheim now produces its own electricity and heating and, at 16.6 cents per Kwh, prices of the energy produced in the area are 40% lower than elsewhere in Europe.

Another example of a successful energy transition was presented by Grzegorz Jakuć, mayor of the Polish municipality of Turosn Koscielna in Eastern Poland, one of the poorest EU regions.

Under a special funding programme totalling PLN 6.89 million (EUR 1.6 million), 25% of homes have been equipped with renewable energy systems. Some 15% of the costs were covered by the inhabitants themselves.

The project led to a radical annual decrease in CO2 emissions. Savings amounting to EUR 95 000 per year have also been made, Mr Jakuć said, adding that the project also contributed to increasing social acceptance of the energy transition and that it had started to convince the inhabitants that "this pays off".

Gerard McGovern, coordinator of the INTERREG project COBEN (Delivering Community Benefits of Civic Energy) from the University of Oldenburg in Germany, said that the community benefits of civic, decentralised or "zero kilometre" energy – were manifold and had to be communicated successfully for the transition to succeed.

The benefits of civic energy extend over a wide range of social, political, economic and environmental advantages for pro-active communities, he said, pointing out that they also offered new opportunities and led to better community cohesion.We see a lot of challenges on the ground, but also opportunities that need to be used, said Rudolf Niessler, Director of DG REGIO at the European Commission, stressing that the implementation should be bottom up and that cohesion policy remained the main framework for delivering the funds needed for a successful transition.

Mr Ribbe said the EESC wanted to address the gap in the public and political debate which overlooked the regional aspects of the transition to renewable and digitalised forms of energy supply.

For the greatest possible added value, there must be a systematic analysis of the regional economic effects of transforming regional energy supply structures. Public funds must be systematically allocated to where they are most needed and where they offer the greatest potential for regional economic development, Mr Ribbe maintained.

We are already looking forward to discussing our ideas for integrating regional policy goals and social cohesion objectives into EU energy policies with Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič during the July 2018 plenary at the EESC, concluded Pierre Jean Coulon, president of the EESC's Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society.