Mar 15 2021
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Common statement, Stand Up for the Social Pillar Alliance

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Common statement, Stand Up for the Social Pillar Alliance

Before the release of the release of the Action Plan for the Social Pillar by the Commission next May the 3rd, and in parallel to the informal meeting of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs (EPSCO), the Stand Up for the Social Pillar Alliance publishes the following common statement.

The European Confederation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives, the European Trade Union Confederation, Social Economy Europe, the Social Platform, members of Alliance Stand Up for the European Pillar of Social Rights, jointly state:

The Alliance calls for an ambitious Action Plan implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). We believe that the EU’s recovery must be grounded in strong, sustainable and resilient economies flanked by social policies and services to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our health, employment, economy, and on equality and democracy in our societies.

We are committed to the principles enshrined in the EPSR and call on our European and national institutions to deliver an ambitious Action Plan to fully implement them. This Plan must be based on the European values, principles and cornerstones of:

–Innovativeness and comprehensiveness: The Action Plan to implement the EPSR must lead to a higher quality of life for all, with new policies to bring social progress as well as a greener and more digital future.

– Promptness: The Action Plan should protect workers and enterprises that are suffering from the economic consequences of the pandemic crisis with the main aim of preserving jobs, including income of workers, self-employed and social entrepreneurs.

– Social ambition: The Action Plan should restore social and regional cohesion, fight inequalities, poverty and exclusion, lead fairer digital and green transitions, establish gender equality, ban discriminations and ensure equal opportunities for all. In the aftermath of the pandemic, it should rely on a job-rich recovery and lead to strengthened social protection systems that guarantee dignity to people of all ages.

– Social & economic well-being: The Action Plan should guide the use of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and shape a fairer and more equal post-Covid reaction. The RRF must fund actions that implement the EPSR and that relaunch the European project on the basis of thriving economies, advanced social models and wide-spread well-being.

– Investments & common good: We expect the Action Plan to promote public investments and to champion universal, effective, high quality and accessible public services, including health and care. It must stimulate private investors’ commitment to pursue the public good as well as tangible environmental, social and good governance progress. Enterprises of all sizes that can provide a high social return must be supported and rewarded – including the social economy and not-for-profit providers of social services, paying special attention to the collective and community dimensions and to socially relevant performances.

– Concreteness and tangibility: Actions aimed at recovery and social progress must be concrete and should therefore be measurable and accompanied by monitoring frameworks, jointly agreed among relevant stakeholders, encompassing the social, environmental and economic criteria.

Please find here the full statement, that has been sent today to the 27 Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs of the EU.

Mar 04 2021
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REScoop.eu: citizen energy cooperatives have transformed the energy market in many countries

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An interview with Sara Tachelet, Communications Manager of  REScoop.eu about energy transition, energy cooperatives and the role of REScoops in climate protection and revitalizing economy. REScoop.eu is the European federation of citizen energy cooperatives. Anemos Ananeosis / Wind of REnewal is a member of the REScoop.eu 

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Wind or Renewal: How, what, why with the creation of the energy cooperatives and REScoop.eu?

Sara Tachelet – RESCoop.eu: As a result of the European project called ‘REScoop 202020’, a small European group of REScoop pioneers and stakeholders began to collaborate in 2012. The main idea of this project was to foster social acceptance for renewable energy projects by means of engaging citizens and stakeholders in the projects. In 2013, REScoop.eu was officially founded as a non-profit organisation under Belgian law.

REScoop.eu is committed to strengthen energy cooperatives and other community energy groups through networking activities, training and support. The federation wishes to make the citizens voices heard in the European energy debate and therefore actively represents the interests of its members at EU level. REScoop.eu succeeded in imposing new rights and supportive frameworks for citizens and communities in the EU Renewable Energy Directive and the Electricity Directive adopted at the end of 2018.

Wind of Renewal: Obstacles? How you were able to overcome the problems?

Sara Tachelet – RESCoop.eu: In our network we identified energy cooperatives facing different obstacles for developing RES projects such as access to financing, the lack of regulatory frameworks, unstable public support schemes, administrative barriers such as cost and access to the grid…

We see that in some countries, the development of renewable energy cooperatives has slowed due to the development of more market-based mechanisms for renewables, such as auctions and tenders. There is a lot of evidence that such methods of determining eligibility for support is not appropriate for smaller market actors, and renewable energy communities in particular.

In Germany for example the shift in the remuneration system from feed-in tariffs to auctions in 2017 has exposed the community wind sector to many challenges, as the specific conditions and interests of the community power projects have been given insufficient consideration.

Following the EU’s Clean Energy for All Europeans legislative package, EU Member States are currently working on transposing the definitions of Renewable Energy Communities and Citizen Energy Communities into their national laws. Although highly supported by REcoop.eu, a serious risk remains in the many Member States where energy cooperatives do not yet exist. In some cases national definitions and enabling frameworks will be created with little or no context. This could increase the potential for abuse of the citizen energy concept by other large market actors. It’s of crucial importance that the definitions adopted by the European clean energy package are well interpreted and leave no space for abuse by other market actors.

Wind of Renewal: Current situation (MW, members)? Number of citizen energy cooperatives? Where are they located?

Sara Tachelet – RESCoop.eu: REScoop.eu represents over 1500 citizen energy groups either directly or through affiliated national federations. Our estimates assume around 3,500 in Europe in total. While these groups may be more expansive in Western Europe, such Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and the UK, we have members in Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey and Romania.

Wind of Renewal: Total installed capacity for the cooperatives?

Sara Tachelet – RESCoop.eu: We do not have data to cover the whole of Europe however some national federations have done regional research.

In France:

  • Coops: 204
  • Electricity: 380.4 MW
  • Heat: 5989 kW (~ 6 MW)

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Combined, Scotland not included):

  • Coops: 300
  • Members: 234,000
  • Tonnes of CO2 prevented: 65,000 (2019)
  • Electricity: 193.9 MW
  • Heat: 2.1 MW

In Germany:

  • Coops: 883
  • Members: 200,000
  • Tonnes of CO2 prevented: 3.39 million (Since 2006)
  • 8.31 Terawatt hours of clean energy produced since 2006.

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Wind of Renewal: Activities?

Sara Tachelet – RESCoop.eu: Photovoltaic panels are very popular in the form of either rooftop installations or solar farms, along with onshore wind. France has 163 groups involved in solar, with 28 groups involved in wind, however wind energy production (269.45 MW) is almost double that of solar (109.2 MW).

Other technologies include: Biogas, Biomass, District Heating, Small Scale HydroThough energy production is not everything citizen energy communities are involved with. Electric mobility is becoming far more popular, with e-vehicle sharing being the most common way in which cooperatives participate.

REScoop.eu helped set up the Mobility Factory to bring together cooperatives to work on a common electric car sharing platform to be used all over Europe in cities and with rural communities. Many of the groups are individual members in our federation.

Partag Ghent

Wind of Renewal: The role of Energy coops in climate protection and energy transition?

Sara Tachelet – RESCoop.eu: By reinforcing the renewable energy cooperative model in Europe REScoop.eu works towards a green and sustainable energy landscape with citizens in the driving seat. Because climate change doesn’t stop at national borders, REScoop.eu tries to connect likeminded organisations around Europe.

Social acceptance of renewable energy production, as achieved by citizen energy cooperatives (REScoops), is the key to minimizing delays in authorizations as well as encouraging investment

Already today, citizen energy cooperatives have transformed the energy market in many European countries while contributing to revitalising the local economy and creating local jobs. REScoops deliver a significant share of renewables investment and promote their local development and public support. With the right implementation of the new European legal framework, citizen energy cooperatives could flourish and deliver an important share of Europe’s renewable energy and therefore contribute in a significant way to the decarbonization of Europe.

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Wind of Renewal: Goals for the future?

Sara Tachelet – RESCoop.eu: An important goal for REScoop.eu is to make sure that the EU’s Clean energy package, acknowledging and supporting active energy citizens and communities supported as stakeholders in Europe’s energy market is properly transposed in the different European Member States. Despite the corona-crisis, most countries are currently working on their implementation. They are organizing public consultations and making their assessment (conditions). However, still many countries are far from ready. Many questions are currently being asked about what energy communities are, how to define them, what activities they should be able to participate in, how they should be regulated, and how their development should be supported. As a federation we aim to give answers to these questions and put forward recommendations for how Member States can use their discretion in interpreting the Directives to develop ambitious and robust provisions on energy communities, to empower community ownership and foster local social innovation in the energy sector. See our transposition guidance

When the European Commission announced its ‘Green Deal’, she acknowledged the need for a socially inclusive energy transition, as well as a role for citizen and community ownership in achieving the EU’s 2030 climate and energy objectives. REscoop.eu is advocating to make sure the Commission prioritizes making energy communities a success ensuring that their development is supported by the EU’s finance pillar, and that they are involved in flagship initiatives such as the buildings renovation wave.

Next to this advocacy goals, the federation is currently setting up and improving services to support citizens, businesses and local authorities that want to work on community energy.

More about  www.rescoop.eu

What is a REScoop

REScoops are energy cooperatives, a business model where citizens jointly own and participate in renewable energy or energy efficiency projects. We also refer to REScoops as citizen or renewable energy communities. REScoops do not necessarily have the legal statute of a cooperative, but they distinguish themselves by the way they do business.

They typically respect 7 principles outlined by the International Cooperative Alliance, which is why we strongly believe that REScoops are leading the energy transition to energy democracy. The principles are:

  1. Voluntary and Open Membership

  2. Democratic Member Control

  3. Economic Participation through Direct Ownership

  4. Autonomy and Independence

  5. Education, Training and Information

  6. Cooperation among Cooperatives

  7. Concern for Community

All citizens are eligible to join a REScoop. After purchasing a cooperative share and becoming a member or co-owner of local renewable energy or energy efficiency projects, members share in the profits and are usually given the opportunity to buy the electricity at a fair price. In addition, members can actively participate in the cooperative: They can decide where the REScoop should invest, and are consulted when setting the energy price.

Here: Brand new guidebook on how to set up an energy community

Community Energy Handbook

Feb 22 2021
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HOSTEL WORLD: Welcommon Hostel as a “Hostel Hero”

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Thank you Hostelworld for shining a light on WELCOMMON HOSTEL as a “Hostel Hero” in October 2020
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HOSTEL WORLD:
We are thrilled to continue shining a light on some of the amazing initiatives hostels are putting in place, whether it’s in community outreach or sustainability or something completely different. In the midst of a crisis, we are seeing hostels supporting the community coming together… building a better world!
In this week’s Hostel Hero story, we wanted to introduce Welcommon Hostel; located in Athens, Greece. The hostel has become a beacon for sustainable tourism in the heart of Athens as well as a community centre for social inclusion of refugees and local Greeks where they come together to learn essential life and language skills and empowerment. They are also an inspirer and educator for climate change action, energy transition and social economy.
This is their story:
“We ran the innovative Welcommon centre for refugees for housing and social integration of 600 vulnerable refugees for 18 months (9/2016-2/2018). The project was funded by UNHCR and through the Municipality of Athens. Although this was an innovative approach to the refugee issue for the whole EU, the funding stopped abruptly, and we did not have the time to find any other funding resources.
As a result, we decided to continue with our social activities for the refugees in another context: A social youth hostel, something that was missing from our city. Our aim was not to create another hostel in Athens but to host tourists and groups with social, ecological, and cultural interests, and to reinvest the generated income in the creation of jobs, climate projects and in social services offered to a number of refugees and other people in need. It is a social experiment based on social innovation and green vision.
Our guests also have the opportunity to participate directly and indirectly in humanitarian, social, inclusive-intercultural and green projects, get informed about the situation of refugees in our country, get connected with the creative side of the city, and participate in intercultural events and activities. We also contributed to the revitalization of the neighbourhood during the financial crisis period (2016-2020) and we continue to support the local economy with social and green procurement, reduction of single use plastics and with a zero-waste strategy.
The Post – COVID19 life
Until today we have offered non-formal education, empowerment and social inclusion activities to up to 1500 refugees, the majority teenagers, women, children, with the support of 320 volunteers from all over the world, who are hosted in our hostel for 2 to 9 months. After re-opening the WELCOMMON HOSTEL in June, we took some initiatives by ourselves:
-We are now hosting a number of vulnerable refugees in Welcommon Hostel. This has become possible with collaboration of some NGOs, women organisations, the Greek Council for Refugees, the Greek Refugees Forum and communities of refugees.
– We have restarted our volunteering program Days of WELCOMMON with the support of our volunteers and the participation of many refugees.
– We try to create a supportive framework and communities of solidarity, focusing on empowerment, connecting people and finding practical solutions like baby clothes, training new mothers on breastfeeding of newborn, offering second-hand baby strollers etc.
Would you like to know more about us or support our social and green activities? Please check out our website here!
Thank you, Welcommon Hostel, for helping to provide endless opportunities to refugees in Athens and ensuring a greener, brighter future for those that visit Greece.
Let’s continue Building a Better World. Please do get in touch to let us know what your hostel is getting up to. No deed too big or too small.
Stay Safe,
Hostelworld Group