Save II Programme Local Energy Policies Contract N°4.1031/P/99.355 Local Energy Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic FINAL REPORT June 2001 Energie-Cités | Local Energy Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic – Final report | page 2 June 2001 CONTENTS 1 - REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5 1.1 - Background to the Project 5 1.2 - The Partners in the Project 6 1.3 - The progress of the Project and the revised programme of phases 6 1.4 - The Main Recommendations to the Commission 10 1.5 - Recommendations to the European Union 11 2 – SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS 18 2.1 - General background on the Czech Republic and Poland 18 2.2 - Priority issues for municipalities in each country 20 2.3 - Recommendations to National Governments 22 2.4 - Recommendations to the European Commission 23 2.5 - Areas for cooperation with European Union local authorities 24 LIST OF ANNEXES Annex 1 - Proceedings of Review Meeting in Jablonec, 25th-26th January 2001 Annex 2 - Proceedings of Review Meeting in Bielsko-Biala, 22nd-23rd February 2001 Annex 3 – Meeting in Brussels on 11th May 2001 Energie-Cités | Local Energy Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic – Final report | page 3 June 2001 Energie-Cités | Local Energy Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic – Final report | page 4 June 2001 1 - Report and recommendations 1.1 - Background to the Project This project has prepared a study of the framework for energy management in local authorities in Poland and the Czech Republic with the objective of better: > identifying the current situation, > identifying the opportunities for action both now and in an extended European Union, > identifying the constraints that may hinder full integration of East European municipalities in European Union programmes > improve the integration of municipalities in the countries concerned in pan- European networks of municipalities interested in energy issues. The study is designed to: 1 - Review the powers and responsibilities of local authorities in the energy field in the applicant countries and the institutional framework within which local authorities work. 2 - Find parallels with existing members of the European Union so that the local authorities in the adherent countries can identify from which partners they are likely to learn the most. 3 - Assess awareness and practice of urban energy planning in local authorities. 4 - Look at significant results obtained by local authorities, identify successful projects and draw lessons for other European Union countries. 5 - Identify obstacles and strong points with regard to the implementation of a policy of energy management including the promotion of renewable energy at local level. 6 - Assess the degree to which the local authorities in these applicant states can profit from the programmes of the European Union designed to support energy efficiency activity and identify areas where European Union support will be particularly helpful. 7 - Identify active twinning links between EU cities and CEEC cities. There are now 16 directly elected regional authorities in Poland and the local authorities have been restructured into two levels, the powiad and the gmina. Similarly in the Czech Republic 14 elected regional authorities have been established. This project has also been designed to enable the project leader, Energie Cités to make contact with key local authorities in the applicant countries and so encourage their integration into these European networks. These contacts have also enabled Energie Cités to raise awareness among Czech and Polish local authorities of those energy efficiency programmes of the European Union which are now or will soon be opened to applications from Eastern Europe (e.g. SAVE). Energie-Cités | Local Energy Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic – Final report | page 5 June 2001 1.2 - The Partners in the Project Energie -Cités Energie Cités, the project leader, is an association of 88 European local authorities which acts to raise awareness of energy issues and the action of local authorities in this area. The association has 10 permanent staff and has its headquarters in Besançon in France. The officer responsible for this project, Dr. Martin Cahn, is a British land-use planner specialising in rural and environmental issues. Initially based at the Energie-Cites headquarters in Besancon, France, he was based in Poland from July 1999. Polish Network Energie -Cites PNEC is an association of 40 Polish municipalities interested in energy issues based in Krakow, Poland. The association has four permanent staff. The responsibility for this project was divided between the Director, Maria Stankiewicz, and one assistant. This assistant changed with staff changes and was as follows: May 1999-August 2000 Agnieszka Wlodarczyk September 2000 – December 2000 Iwona Korohoba January 2001-March 2001 Przemek Korohoba April 2001-June 2001 Bozena Gierek In addition Pavel WoŸniak helped in preparing a review seminar in Bielsko-Bia³a. ISLENET ISLENET is a network of island local authorities interested in energy issues based in Brussels, Belgium. The association has one member of permanent staff, Victoria Argyraki. SEVEn SEVEn was introduced as a sub-contractor in this project in July 2000. It was formerly a foundation now converted to a non-profit making company which specialises in promoting energy efficiency in the Czech Republic. It has carried out many projects among Czech municipalities and has approx. 20 permanent staff. Pavel Karnik was the officer responsible for SEVEn’s input. 1.3 - The progress of the Project and the revised programme of phases The start of the project was greatly delayed by the delays in signing the contract as outlined in the interim report. Following these delays an extension of eight months was made to the contract and the final deadline for activities was changed to 30th April 2001 with submission of the final report by 30th June 2001. 1.3.1 - Revised programme Following the delays, the project, effective work on the project could only commence in January 2000. A new programme was established on the basis of this timetable and while there were some delays, the broad outline was kept to (see table below). During the initial meetings in the Czech Republic, Energie-Cites decided that it would like to sub-contract certain elements of the work there to SEVEn, a foundation specialising in energy efficiency activity which has carried out a great deal of work with Czech municipalities and knows their action in the energy field intimately. Energie-Cités | Local Energy Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic – Final report | page 6 June 2001 They undertook to prepare case studies on Czech local authorities and to host a review meeting in the Czech Republic. In the light of the separate progress of work in Poland and the CzechRepublic, no common launch meeting was held in Phase 2 and individual meetings were held in each country. description of the proposed proposed actual actual task start date end date start date end date Phase 1 January 2000 March 2000 January 2000 September 2000 Initial Background research to prepare briefing papers Phase 2 March 2000 April 2000 March 2000 September 2000 Initial coordination (Poland) (Czech republic) meetings Phase 3 May 2000 August 2000 July 2000 November 2000 Research visits Phase 4 September November 2000 November 2000 February 2001 Drafting 2000 Preliminary Report Phase 5 December January 2001 January 2001 February 2001 Review Meetings 2000 Phase 6 February March 2001 February 2001 June 2001 Revision of report 2001 Phase 7. April 2001 April 2001 June 2001 June 2001 Submission of Report 2.3.2 - Work carried out Phase 1 - Work Programme: Initial research and preparation of briefing papers on each country (Months 1-3) This will look at the framework of local government and discuss the basic powers and responsibilities in each country. It will prepare a draft list of local authorities and institutions to be approached in each country. Initial meetings Initial meetings were held between the two main partners in Kraków in May 1999 and in July 1999. These were held to define the programme and progress deadlines. Meeting in Nowy S ¹cz, 16th August 1999 A meeting for Polish authorities participating in the project was held in Nowy Sacz in mid-August 1999. The two principal partners agreed to prepare background papers. The meeting in Nowy Sacz involved participating cities who presented details of their own experience and practice while the partners presented the programme of the project. Coordination Meeting A short meeting was held between the principal partners in Nowy Sacz in January 2000. It was agreed to hold the first Polish meeting in Tychy. Energie-Cités | Local Energy Policies in Poland and the Czech Republic – Final report | page 7 June 2001 Phase 2 - Initial meeting of partners and correspondents from each country (Month 3-4) This will take place in Poland and will review the general framework in each country and the nature of the problems to be addressed. One local authority from each country will be involved in the meeting to give direct feedback into the preparation process. The workload will be shared out. Launch Meetings Separate meetings were held in Poland and the Czech Republic and in practice SEVEn relied heavily on its existing contacts with municipalities. A meeting between the Polish partner cities was held at Tychy in early March 2000. PNEC identified four cities as partners in the project: Bialystok, Bielsko-Biala, Nowy S¹cz and Tychy who were present at this meeting and agreed to participate in the programme. A meeting was held between Energie-Cites, SEVEn, Ceske Budejovice Municipality and The Energy Centre Ceske Budejovice at Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic in September 2000. Following this Energie-Cites and SEVEn reviewed the programme and contents of the report and prepared plans for progress. The workload was divided according to the following format: > Preparation of case studies of four towns Poland: PNEC Czech Republic: SEVEn Coordination and editing : Energie-Cités.