Overview of the project

The Energy Efficiency First (EE1st) principle boosts EU sustainability, climate neutrality, and green growth goals (Green Deal, Fit for 55, RePowerEU). In addition, it endeavours to guarantee the production of energy that is essential, hinder investments in stranded assets, and reduce and manage energy demand in a cost-effective manner, all while considering market integration and supply security. Regio1st raises awareness about EE1st among regional governments and their agencies and supports them in making related planning decisions by providing appropriate guidance to six regional authorities and plans to expand to over 100 regions in the EU. It establishes a community of practice for EE1st in cooperation with the Covenant of Mayors to ensure political commitment and enforce the Multilevel Climate and Energy Dialogue provision. In Western Macedonia, the process started with stakeholder mapping, to collect targeted and individualised information by gaining a comprehensive understanding of the actors’ diverse needs, requirements, and expectations. Then, it continued with a series of regional workshops to foster the integration of EE1st within regional energy planning. In particular, a questionnaire run on the first regional workshop revealed that only 38% of the stakeholders were aware of the Regional energy planning procedure, 63% agreed that the Region of Western Macedonia is tackling energy transition with sensitivity and is reacting positively to the changes it brings, and 92% thought that National Energy and Climate Plans should be at the Regional level as well. In accordance with the Regio1st goal, the numbers mentioned above underscore the necessity for regions and regional energy agencies to take on an increased role in the energy planning.