European climate protection initiative

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The European Climate Initiative (ECI) ( English European Climate Initiative ) is a financial instrument of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) by decision of the German Bundestag . The overarching goal of the EUKI is to promote cooperation in the European Union (EU) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions .

The European Climate Initiative finances cross-border climate protection projects by public and civil society actors such as B. Non-governmental organizations , scientific institutes and municipalities. Currently (as of July 2019) the EUKI promotes and finances 64 projects in 24 EU countries. More than 140 implementing organizations and implementing partners are active in the projects. The financing commitments currently amount to more than 26 million euros. The EUKI forms the link between the national and international climate protection initiative .

history

In November 2016, the German Bundestag decided to finance the European Climate Initiative and made funds available for the 2017 federal budget . The first EU-wide ideas competition started in April 2017, during which 67 project proposals were received and 22 projects were selected for funding. In May 2017 the EUKI Secretariat was opened on the premises of the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ). A few months later, in September 2017, the first projects started with their work.

During the first EUKI annual conference in February 2018 in Berlin, the publication of a second ideas competition was announced. The EUKI then selected 22 proposals for funding from 85 project outlines. A third ideas competition was started in March 2019.

In March 2019, Chancellor Angela Merkel mentioned the European Climate Initiative in her weekly video podcast and praised the work of the initiative and its projects.

aims

The overarching goal of the EUKI is to promote cooperation within the European Union in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The work concentrates on three approaches to support public and civil society actors in climate protection and to initiate transformative change in Europe to reduce greenhouse gases.

Specifically, the EUKI pursues three approaches:

  • Create awareness and pool knowledge
  • Form networks and exchange models of success
  • Build capacities and build bridges to EU funding

Project funding

There are two ways of receiving financial grants or contracts within the framework of the EUKI: As part of the annual EU-wide ideas competition, organizations with forward-looking ideas for European climate protection are selected. In addition, the Federal Environment Ministry finances certain projects that pursue pre-defined climate policy goals. The target groups for the bilateral and multilateral measures to be financed are governments, local authorities, civil society, consumers and - insofar as this is permitted under state aid law - the commercial sector. The geographic focus is on cooperation with Central, Eastern, South-Eastern and Southern Europe.

Ideas competition

Once a year, the EUKI publishes an ideas competition in which committed actors and cross-border networks within the EU can apply for funding. Innovative climate protection ideas from non-governmental organizations, authorities, non-profit companies as well as scientific and educational institutions are selected for funding. We are looking for projects in which partners from two or more EU countries work together. The EUKI funds most of its projects through the ideas competition. The ideas competition is being implemented on behalf of the BMU by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

Tenders by the Federal Environment Ministry

The BMU commissions selected projects and studies in the context of tenders. These are intended to help implement agreements with EU partner countries and the German government's climate policy goals in Europe. Concept development for these projects takes place in the German Ministry of the Environment in consultation with the respective partner countries as part of bilateral initiatives. In this context, the ministry also awards contracts for scientific monitoring and evaluation of the EUKI and for supporting the BMU in questions of EU climate policy. In contrast to the ideas competition, the tenders can not only be used to become non-profit organizations.

EUKI Academy

In addition to financing, the EUKI supports the strengthening of methodological, technical and commercial skills as well as the dissemination of knowledge about climate protection. Corresponding further education events are offered as part of the EUKI Academy. The EUKI also promotes the networking of implementers and thus contributes to the development of a community of practice of committed experts in climate protection across disciplines and national borders.

The EUKI regularly offers webinars on climate-relevant topics such as climate policy or structural change in coal regions. There is also further training on methodological topics such as project management or public relations. The EUKI also publishes results and studies of the financed projects.

Thematic focus and project examples

The European Climate Initiative promotes ideas for cross-border EU-wide climate protection. The projects are assigned to eight subject areas:

Funding includes projects on socially acceptable structural change in coal regions, awareness-raising in schools, an exchange program for journalists, exchanges on national and European climate policy, and the strengthening of cycling in urban areas.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.euki.de/ueber-die-euki/
  2. ↑ https://www.euki.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/EUKI_jahresbericht_DE_web.pdf (p. 66)
  3. ↑ https://www.bmu.de/pressemitteilung/bundesumweltministerium-ruft-europaeische-klimaschutzinitiative-ins-leben/
  4. ↑ https://www.bmu.de/pressemitteilung/ideenwettbewerb-klimaschutz-verbindet-europa/
  5. ↑ https://www.euki.de/en/news/call-project-ideas/
  6. ↑ https://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/bkin-de/mediathek/die-kanzlerin-direkt/merkel-klimaschutz-in-europa-gemeinsam-anpacken-1586124!mediathek?query=
  7. ↑ https://www.euki.de/ueber-die-euki/#toggle-id-3
  8. ↑ https://www.euki.de/projektfinanzierung/
  9. ↑ https://www.euki.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/EUKI_jahresbericht_DE_web.pdf (p. 12)
  10. ↑ https://www.euki.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/EUKI_jahresbericht_DE_web.pdf (p. 1)
  11. ↑ https://www.euki.de/projekte/
  12. ↑ http://regionsbeyondcoal.eu/
  13. ↑ https://www.euki.de/euki-projects/climate-school-be-at-offene-verbindungen-und-schulen-im-bereich-klimaschutz-und-energiewende
  14. ↑ http://www.giaccheverdibronte.it/?page_id=1549
  15. ↑ https://www.euki.de/euki-projects/clikis/
  16. ↑ https://www.euki.de/euki-projects/klima-energie-fellowship-fuer-journalisten/
  17. ↑ https://climatedialogue.eu/
  18. ↑ https://www.euki.de/euki-projects/klimappolitik-als-neues-markenzeichen-der-eu/
  19. ↑ https://www.euki.de/euki-projects/klimappolitik-mittelosteuropa/
  20. ↑ https://www.cyclurban.eu/

Web links