SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, January 31. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Tenerife Island Council, in partnership with the Gran Canaria Island Council, the Office of the Covenant of Mayors, and the Canarian Federation of Municipalities, has orchestrated the National Meeting of the Covenant of Mayors 2024. The event, which unfolded on January 30 and 31 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Tenerife, respectively, centered on themes of climate change adaptation, civic involvement, sustainable tourism, energy destitution, and energy communities.
The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Sustainable Energy stands as a program by the European Commission recognized as the most extensive urban initiative globally for climate and energy. It unites thousands of local and regional authorities voluntarily committed to implementing the European Union’s climate and energy goals in their territories.
The session held today, Wednesday, took place at the premises of the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energy (ITER) and saw the presence of Tenerife Island Council President, Rosa Dávila; Pedro Millán, the island’s Director of Natural Environment; Alejandro Molowny, the island’s Director of Waste; ITER’s CEO, Begoña Ortiz, and mayors and councilors from the member municipalities under the accord.
Rosa Dávila, in her opening speech, emphasized that the Covenant of Mayors is “a crucial instrument for engaging the people of Europe in energy sustainability and its repercussions on the climate that future generations of the planet will face.”.
She added, “The pressing need to tackle the effects of climate change with tangible – and realistic – solutions becomes more evident each day. In Tenerife, we have an institution like ITER, a globally respected research center in renewable energies, engineering, telecommunications, and the environment, exemplifying the Island Council’s unwavering commitment to climate action, safeguarding the natural environment, and transitioning to renewable energies.”
The Tenerife sessions specifically delved into themes such as climate change adaptation, energy destitution, and civic involvement in local climate initiatives. In addition to hosting, ITER contributed to the event within the framework of the Genera project, co-financed by the LIFE program. As a partner in this project, its mission is to assist municipalities in implementing energy transition agendas as outlined in the Agendas of the European Clean Energy initiative for European islands and the Covenant of Mayors.
The proceedings commenced with the first segment on ‘Adaptation to climate change,’ followed by the presentation of the ‘LIFE-Genera, Energy Transition in Municipalities’ project. The second segment delved into ‘Civic participation: strategies for engaging citizens in local climate initiatives,’ while the third was dedicated to ‘Sustainable Tourism.’ Finally, the fourth segment addressed ‘Evaluation and monitoring systems for energy destitution.’
The day concluded with a guided tour of the ITER facilities, enabling attendees to explore the D-Alix data center, the TEIDE-HPC supercomputer, the Bioclimatic Houses, or the Photovoltaic cell characterization laboratory, and gain insights into the real-time consumption visualization platform (NEXO). Yesterday, during the sessions in Gran Canaria, discussions revolved around the latest developments in the Covenant of Mayors for the new year and featured a tour of success stories and the challenges arising from climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in various municipalities.
