18th edition
Due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Week of Regions and Cities 2020 was held entirely online for the first time. Further, it carried on for a full three weeks instead of the traditional four days. Each week was dedicated to one core strategic area: 5-9 October, Citizen Empowerment; 12-16 October, Cohesion and Cooperation; and 19-22 October, Green Europe.
Rubí took part in the 18th European Week of Regions and Cities with the workshop Local and Regional Climate Action, organised jointly by the Town Council and the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR). The panel was employed to compare the experiences of diverse European cities and regions in the area of fighting climate change. Besides Rubí, Cologne (Germany), Lappeenranta (Finland) and Odessa (Ukraine) were members.
During the round table, Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez explained the town’s experience with the Rubí Shines Project (Rubí Brilla), started in 2011. It was based on a strategic vision of energy to supply all fields –industry, commerce, families and government– that could be executed without need of large investments. To endorse her claims, she reviewed the milestones obtained in the framework of this project, such as over 320,000 euros saved via the initiative 50/50 at a dozen schools in the town and its replication at city councils, such as those in Madrid and Valencia, among others. Martínez also mentioned the work done in the industrial arena, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia, which equipped local companies with new instruments to be more energy efficient and, thus, more competitive. She also described the Sustainable Commerce Project, which helped a group of local establishments to implement good practices based on energy sustainability. And at the domestic scope, Martínez stressed the work done via the project to restore neighbouring communities and Energy for All, the local initiative to fight energy poverty.
After making a speech in Rubí, the head of alternative transports and director of the zero emissions project in Cologne, Jens Conrad, presented the work executed in this municipality to add hydrogen fuel cell buses to the public transport fleet. Then Markku Mäki-Hokkonen, development specialist in Lappeenranta (Finland), explained the firm commitment of this industrial city to become a green municipality. Finally, Yuriy Dimchoglo, vice-president of the Regional Council of Odessa, spoke about promoting wind and solar power in this area of the Ukraine.
The workshop Local and Regional Climate Action was chaired by Martín Guillermo Ramírez, secretary general of the Association of the European Border Regions, with a special performance given by Ukrainian singer Ruslana, an activist defending the forests of the Carpathians.