Local Sustainable Energy Strategies as Opportunity for European Union Regional Development

Abstract

The aim of this article is to create the methodology of energy strategies at the local, municipality level and to provide insight into the effectiveness of innovative policies and unique policy design components that can be adopted by other governments, at the local or state, levels. The Regional Policy of the EU, also referred to as Cohesion Policy, is a policy with the stated aim of improving the economic well-being of regions in the EU and avoiding regional disparities. The strategy Europe 2020 stresses the so-called 20/20/20 targets.

The paper was prepared using the material, collected and analysed by implementing the Baltic Sea Region 2007–2013 programme project ‘Public Energy Alternatives – Sustainable energy strategies as a chance for regional development’ (PEA). The novelty of this methodology is in its holistic approach – municipality, community, business and researchers’ cooperation is used. In this article, the main stages of a municipal strategy development are analysed and recommendations for regional energy strategy preparation are given.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.71.3.12610