UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre is starting to see the fruits of its collaboration agreement with the Argentinean Network of Municipalities Against Climate Change (RAMCC).
Members of RAMCC have entered into a historical agreement to jointly purchase LED luminaires to replace conventional street lighting bulbs.
Thirty-two municipalities have bundled their sustainability and climate action investments in, and created a trust fund that currently holds 12 million Argentinian Pesos, approximately 200.000 USD.
In February, 8 of the 32 municipalities entered the process of investing in more than a thousand LED luminaries for street lightning, through this trust fund.
The establishment of the trust fund, and bundling of energy efficiency projects are a direct outcome of the “project bundling”, approach that the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, an integral part of UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, is promoting as an effective instrument to scale up energy efficiency project implementation.
Urgent local response
The historic decision to bundle purchases of LED luminaries shows the innovative responses to climate change at local level. In many cases, despite the urgency, international support to acquire sustainable technologies is slow to arrive, while local governments face the consequences of the changing climate.
Through RAMCC, municipalities coordinate and promote local public policies against climate change in cities and towns of Argentina. Part of that work has been to set up the first municipalities’ trust fund to promote climate action, as a vehicle to gain the support and transparency needed to promote investment at a sub-national level.
The Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency has not only supported the development of the business model approach used in purchasing the 1000 LEDs, but has supported RAMCC’s members conducting pre-feasibility studies for energy efficiency project development in street lighting. Other areas will soon also come on energy efficiency in public buildings and on district energy in two Argentinian municipalities, taking advantage of local resources.
First regional workshop
In mid-March, the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency in collaboration with RAMCC will host the first Regional workshop on energy efficiency and financing for Latin-American municipalities.
With mayors, policymakers and representatives of the financial sector from 10 countries in the Latin-American and Caribbean region, the event will focus on how to promote improvements in energy efficiency in the region by highlighting possible routes of action, implementation models, and exchange of experiences.
The possibility of future collaborations and projects between participants, funders and the C2E2 will also be analyzed.
The event is supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, The Royal Danish Embassy in Argentina, the Legislature of Buenos Aires, the International Urban Cooperation Programme of the European Union, United Nations Development Programme, and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.
