New European project on regional bio-energy partnerships

ICLEI Europe is partner in the new bio- project MAKE-IT-BE working with other bio-energy experts and cities.

The project ‘Decision-making and implementation tools for delivery of local & regional bio-energy chains’, in short called MAKE-IT-BE, runs until 2011. The consortium of 8 partners, led by Italian Centro Ricerche Produzioni Vegetali - Società cooperativa (C.R.P.V.), aims to support the development and implementation of integrated bio-energy chains across Europe, by creating and testing enabling frameworks. These include decision-making tools and local partnerships.

Through a combination of analysis and capacity building on bio-energy best practices, development and application of decision-making tools and interactive working with key stakeholders, the project will result in the definition of proper bio-energy agendas in four EU regions, namely Italy, Slovenia, United Kingdom and Austria.

These actions will aim to produce multiple positive effects: creating new businesses and jobs, new markets and services as well as new instruments to finance and support bio-energy chains at local level. Involvement of a multitude of actors in several European Member / Accession states will raise awareness of the opportunities deriving from a sound, bottom-up bio-energy development, to foster replication of the action.

The project is co- funded by the European Commission under the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) Programme.