Climate-KIC joins steering committee of the Low Emission Development Strategies – Europe & Eurasia Platform

– LONDON, UK. 31 March 2017

Climate-KIC is pleased to announce its joining of the Steering Committee for the Low Emission Development Strategies Europe & Eurasia Platform (LEDS-EEP).  

The LEDS-EEP’s mission is to create and support a community of practitioners that will promote and implement Low Emission Development Strategies (LEDS) across Europe & Eurasia, which is comprised of Europe and the nations of the Black Sea region.

The platform is designed to support peer-to peer learning, knowledge sharing, advisory support, and improved regional coordination and cooperation among governmental and non-governmental partners, including academia, business, associations, NGOs and individuals to help European and Eurasian countries to achieve transformative, climate-smart, sustainable economic growth in the 21st century.

Climate-KIC joins a network of 10 countries represented at the Steering Committee by 15 members from public institutions and the NGO sector. The Partnership’s work and collaboration is also supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Quote from Mike Cherrett, Director for European Affairs and External Partners, Climate-KIC:

“We are pleased to join the LEDS-EEP at this early stage. The countries and regions of Central and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region face some of the most severe challenges associated with climate change and sustainable development.  Climate-KIC already has a keen focus on this region through the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme.  

We are pleased to bring our network and its experience into the process of helping establish an ambitious and effective LEDS-EEP, and look forward to learning from the experience of the Global LEDS Platforms.  Effective collaboration amongst organisations and alliances like ours will play a crucial role in assisting countries to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s) under the Paris Agreement. We need to move fast – and in a coordinated way.”

Quote from Ekaterine Mikadze, co-chair of the LEDS-EEP Steering Committee and Chief Specialist at the Climate Change Office of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia:

“We are pleased to have an opportunity to engage with our regional partners to promote low emission development in our countries through a common platform. This will allow for an easier exchange of experience and ideas that can foster mitigation actions across the region. We believe that the closer cooperation with global and regional alliances can result in real impact on the ground. I would like to thank everyone who has worked eagerly to start up such initiative and I am looking forward to a fruitful cooperation and learning experience.”

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Notes

MEDIA CONTACTS

Climate-KIC

Stefan Denig, Director of Communications and Marketing

Tel:      +32 (0) 473 63 28 25

Email: stefan.denig@climate-kic.org

LEDS EEP

Thor Morante, Expert – International Cooperation and Policy

Tel: +36 26 504 000

Email: tmorante@rec.org

ABOUT CLIMATE-KIC

Climate-KIC is the EU’s largest public private partnership addressing climate change through innovation to build a zero carbon economy.

We address climate change across four priority themes: urban areas, land use, production systems, climate metrics and finance. Education is at the heart of these themes to inspire and empower the next generation of climate leaders.

We run programmes for students, start-ups and innovators across Europe via centres in major cities, convening a community of the best people and organisations.

Our approach starts with improving the way people live in cities. Our focus on industry creates the products required for a better living environment, and we look to optimise land use to produce the food people need.

Climate-KIC is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

– climate-kic.org

ABOUT LEDS EEP

The mission of the Low Emissions Development Strategies – Europe and Eurasia Platform (LEDS-EEP) is to connect decision makers, stakeholders, and experts on the task of achieving development goals while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and guarding against the dangers of a changing climate. The LEDS-EEP is designed to create and support a community of practitioners that will promote and implement LEDS across the region, helping countries in Eastern Europe and around the Black Sea achieve transformative, climate-smart, sustainable economic growth in the 21st Century.

Outside the region, LEDS-EEP connects to the LEDS Global Partnership and the other regional platforms in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia to create new learning and collaboration opportunities that facilitate the development and implementation of meaningful policy.

The work of the Secretariat is currently supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

All interested parties — governmental or non-governmental, institutional or individual — may register as a LEDS-EEP member via: http://www.leds-eep.org/join.php.