Project Partners Meeting within the frame of the INFIRE Project
During the period of 12th and 13th of February 2025, a Project partners’ meeting and the 6th Steering Committee meeting within the frame of the project INFIRE (INnovative FInancing solutions for climate planning of REsilient and carbon neutral living areas), co-funded by the Interreg Euro-MED Programme, was organized in Belleville-en-Beaujolais, France, between partners and stakeholders of the project.
The event started with a welcome speech from the Mayor and a short tour of the Intercommunal Water Treatment Centre of Saône-Beaujolais-Belleville. Commissioned in 2012, this facility is intended to treat wastewater from residents of three communities in the intercommunal area: Belleville/Saône, Saint-Jean d’Ardières and Taponas.
The meeting continued with introducing the current project status and modifications between the partners. Also, the management and reporting status of the project was reviewed.
There were several major topics discussed during the two-day work:
– Innovative green financing for resilient and carbon-neutral Euro-MED living areas, where the topics of climate adaptation and establishing carbon neutrality were addressed. The main activities were discussed, along with the methodology and expected deliverables as well as the next steps of this topic.
– Integrating and improving policy instruments for sustainable and carbon-neutral residential zones, the key activities, objectives and next steps in the INFIRE project were reflected.
– Testing and demonstrating the viability of concrete climate adaption and carbon neutrality (CACN) solutions in Euro-MED living areas. Joint preparation, evaluation and monitoring of the pilot activities was carried out.
During the second working day, the focus was on the presentation of the eight pilot activities of the project. Each of the pilot activities was represented from each region. Experts from the Regional Energy Agency of Pazardjik (REAP) introduced a pilot activity for Bulgaria, which is organized on the territory of the Peshtera Municipality. This is the establishment of an Energy Help Desk for citizens to tackle energy poverty in Peshtera.
The project participants also discussed activities within the last topic of the project – Transfer of INFIRE knowledge.
The event concluded with a review of the communication and dissemination activities and a debate organized on the monitoring, evaluation, and upcoming events of the project.
