UfM Secretariat – Accelerating the Energy Transition in the Mediterranean: Launch of Climate Change Adaptation Awards

The UfM Secretariat is partnering with France’s Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME) in the launch of a competition to foster public initiatives promoting adaptation to climate change impacts.

In 2040, the Mediterranean region will face a triple challenge: demographic, as the urban population is expected to double; energy-related, due to an expected increase in the energy demand of almost 60%; and climate-related, as a consequence of a foreseen 50% increase in the greenhouse emissions.

In this context, the process of energy transition is a priority for all Mediterranean countries in the region, considered to be an important climate hotspot.

During the 4^th International Energy  Transition Conference, set to take place on 25 June in Algiers, the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME), the Mediterranean Association of National Agencies for Energy Efficiency (MEDENER), the UfM Secretariat, CGLU, Plan Bleu and Mediterranean Experts on Climate and Environmental Change Med-Ecc will award the Mediterranean Climate Change Adaptation Trophy to the best initiative on Climate Change Adaptation in the region.

The competition is addressed to public actors, in particular to local authorities, national agencies, public universities and NGOs partnering with a local public actor. The call for projects focuses on initiatives and actions promoting adaptation in the Mediterranean. The projects submitted have to correspond to one of the following thematic:

• Rehabilitation, infrastructures and buildings
• Ecosystems and natural resources
• Conceptualisation and implementation of public policies

The main assessment criteria will be the relevance and exemplarity of the initiative or action, the efficiency of the implementation procedure, the replicability at a Mediterranean scale and the coherence as regards the socioeconomic and environmental issues of the implementation area.

The three laureates (one per category) will be invited to participate at the COP22 from 7 to 18 November 2016 in Marrakech and their initiatives will be featured in a dedicate publication distributed during the international colloquium.