ENGAGE YOUR CITY!

ENGAGE nominated for the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards

Laura Guérin — 2013-06-17T08:31:05Z

ENGAGE has been nominated for the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2013, in the Communicating category.

Identified as a "simple idea with an innovative twist that makes tackling environmental issues fun", this European initiative has been selected as it creates awareness, changes the perception and brings about endorsement of energy efficiency via targeted and professionally carried out communication activities.

ENGAGE is one of the 25 actions shortlisted among the 224 projects submitted.

Bielsko-Biała wins award

Ian Turner — 2013-05-16T10:46:20Z

The campaign “Bielsko-Biała protects the climate” – school cooperation , which is based on ENGAGE , recently won an award for the best project as part of the “Science on Stage Festival 2013” in Frankfurt/Słubice.

The international jury of teachers appreciated the campaign. The jury noted that: "This project is unique because of the increasing awareness of environmental issues and accountability in order to achieve a sustainable future. Officials and teachers have done work that has joined a number of schools and kindergartens in society."

Facebook link

Online press article 1 and 2 in Polish.

ENGAGE selected to represent projects on the IEE website!

Laura Guérin — 2013-04-02T10:35:15Z

ENGAGE has been chosen by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) to feature on the homepage of the Intelligent Energy Europe website!

From 2010 to 2012, the ENGAGE campaign has been supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Commission.

Energy efficiency activities for Turkish and Syrian students in Gaziantep

Laura Guérin — 2013-03-25T13:37:28Z

Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (GMM, Turkey) recently used ENGAGE to communicate about an interesting colloboration between Turkish and Syrian refugees. Because the primary and secondary students were learning about energy efficiency and Global Warming this was seen as an ideal moment to use ENGAGE to link the activity to the local Climate Action Plan.

GMM completed their Gaziantep Climate Action Plan (GCAP) at the end of 2011. This plan aims to decrease CO2 emissions by 20% and energy consumption by 20% for the target year 2023 which is the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

The collaboration started two weeks ago on a pilot scale. GMM included Syrian refugees from a school in Gaziantep in the Project activities. GMM decided to produce ENGAGE posters both in Turkish and Syrian Schools at the same time.

This project includes two steps:

On the first day, the GMM Environmental Engineer meets pupils and shows a short cartoon film about climate change. She also discusses with students about climate change and energy efficiency. After delivering brochures, pupils are asked to draw a picture about climate change. The same training is given to the Syrian school by GMM staff in Arabic.
On the second day, the staff has a short presentation to pupils about climate change. All pupils then plant a tree in their school garden with Syrian pupils. At the end of the day tree seeds are given to all pupils as a gift. Photo's are then taken of these activities and ENGAGE posters produced.

Visit the poster gallery of Gaziantep!

Bornova ENGAGing students

Laura Guérin — 2013-02-27T14:22:05Z

Bornova is working closer with students to highlight city projects with the help of ENGAGE.

Bornova is the first city in Turkey to participate in the ENGAGE campaign. Every year, more than 300 students from Ege University work in the different 'Social Responsibility Projects' of the Municipality. This year, the European Union Projects Unit of Bornova has initiated a project with a small group of students taking the Civic Involvement Projects Course from the International Relations Department of Ege University. The municipality presented their European activities such as the Energy Cities membership and the participation in the ENGAGE campaign.

20 students have been selected for the ENGAGE project group of Bornova. The aim of this group is to make projects more visible by taking pictures in Bornova. At the end of semester, every student presented pictures taken and the slogans chosen on ENGAGE posters promoting Energy Efficiency and Sustainability.

Consequently, ENGAGE provided the municipality a perfect virtual tool to highlight city actions:

The Sustainable Energy Action Plan of Bornova has been completed with a 25% percent target of CO2 emission reductions.
The amount of total green space which was 1.5 million square meters in 2009 has exceeded 3 million square metres.
The Municipality of Bornova has signed protocols with two licensed oil collecting companies and has today collected 50 thousand liters of vegetable oil.
Collection and separation of domestic solid waste at its source ensuring their reintegration to the nature.
The main municipal buildings of Bornova has started to use White LED (light emitting diode) lamps that consume less than a quarter of the electricity than fluorescent lighting does.

Visit Bornova's poster gallery!

Ponte de Lima 2020

Laura Guérin — 2013-02-08T11:03:45Z

The Covenant signatory Ponte de Lima (Portugal) has developed a successful ENGAGE campaign under the slogan "Ponte de Lima 2020".

The municipality of Ponte de Lima joined ENGAGE to improve the dissemination of their "Ponte de Lima 2020" campaign. This has been done in cooperation with the project “Nós pela Natureza” (We by Nature), whose mission is to optimize resource use, minimise environmental impacts linked to daily activities and valorise the reputation and visibility of those who join voluntarily. The implementation of this project relies on a system of certification which involves several levels of environmental commitment including waste reduction, increasing the percentage of waste recycled and reducing the consumption of water and energy.

To date, 58 posters from more than 80 public servants and citizens have already been created. The campaign website http://pl2020.cm-pontedelima.pt enables participants and visitors to easily vote for their favourite posters via the voting system provided on the ENGAGE poster gallery. Discover their best rated poster!

Visit Ponte de Lima poster gallery!

ENGAGE citizens reduce their individual annual CO2 emissions by 12%

Laura Guérin — 2013-01-24T08:51:55Z

ENGAGE proves that participative communications campaigns lead to concrete energy results: by the end of 2012 participants in the 12 ENGAGE pioneer cities monitored were able to avoid 40,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. On average, a citizen has reduced his/her annual CO2 emissions by 12%!

Since 2010, 12 pioneer cities followed by dozens of European local authorities have used the ENGAGE approach to involve local players to reach their energy and climate objectives. Families, school classes, sports clubs, representatives from companies, associations, NGOs, municipal departments and many others have pledged to reduce their energy consumption on thousands of personalised ENGAGE posters.

More than 8,500 participants have committed to reduce their energy consumption on more than 5,000 ENGAGE posters.

Read the full ENGAGE guidebook with campaign results

RESULTS

Laura Guérin — 2013-01-23T13:56:55Z

Read the full ENGAGE guidebook with campaign results

ENGAGE proves that participative communications campaigns lead to concrete energy results.

By the end of 2012 participants in the 12 ENGAGE pioneer cities monitored were able to avoid 40,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

On average, a citizen has reduced his/her annual CO2 emissions by 12%!

Heerlen: "Sustainable together. Will you join us?"

Laura Guérin — 2012-12-03T08:04:25Z

Heerlen (NL) presents their ENGAGE campaign. The objective is to make people aware of the energy they use and "shape our houses to reduce the use of energy" says Fred Gillissen, Deputy Mayor of Heerlen.

Visit Heerlen's poster gallery.

Sustainable together in Heerlen

Laura Guérin — 2012-11-29T09:48:12Z

With more than 200 local players participating in ENGAGE, Heerlen (NL) has developed a successful campaign that has been presented during a study tour to local authorities and celebrated on the national Day of Sustainability.

Heerlen hosted 11 municipalities for a study visit on electric bikes on the 29th of October. 6 projects were presented, that are all displayed on an ENGAGE poster. Participants discover how the ENGAGE campaign is a relevant tool for cooperation with other organisations and exchanging knowledge.

On the national Day of Sustainability (10th of October), a large exhibition has been installed in the central square. It included electric vehicles as well as a 150-meter clothesline with all the ENGAGE posters of the campaign participants.
People who wanted to be a model for a sustainable future were photographed by students of the Arcus College. The photo was processed directly on the poster tool, so that the "model" could take home a print of the poster.

Visit Heerlen's poster gallery.
Watch Heerlen's campaign video clip