UN Climate Change Conference COP25

Rubí had the opportunity to present its 50/50 energy saving project at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP25, which was held in Madrid from 2 to 13 December 2019. The city was invited to take part in the presentation Schools as the Seeds for Change, which was held in the Green Area of the conference.

50/50 is an educational experience surrounding energy saving and efficiency, driven forward as part of the Rubí Brilla (Rubí Shines) project: the educational community works as a team to reduce energy consumption –and the economic expense it entails– and polluting emissions. Schools commit to reducing their energy spending and the City Council returns half of the savings achieved as a direct subsidy. The City Council uses the other half of the money to invest in energy efficiency measures at schools to keep increasing savings in the future.

The project was implemented in Rubí in 2012 and, at this time, is completely established at a dozen of the city’s public schools. Further, many schools around Spain have already replicated the project, encouraged by Rubí’s good experience. During the Climate Change Conference, Mayor Ana María Martínez Martínez claimed that the municipality had been pioneering in promoting energy saving and efficiency across the board. Although the Rubí Brilla project initially focused on the municipal and industrial fields, its concept was soon extended to commercial and residential sectors.