What an exciting journey it has been for RURENER over last few months! Even though  the winter is known for slowing down and resting in nature, it wasn’t the case for us. A lot of planing and changes have been happening in our organization to make it the best tool to support your messages and ambitions at EU level. Spring seems like the most appropriate season to water the seeds we planted and let our ideas grow and bloom into reality.

While we are preparing the LINK-EU event #3, ENER’Avila (Spain), let’s have a look back at ENER’Monts du Lyonnais last December..!

We are looking forward to our meeting next June! Programme and registrations to be released very soon on this website.

MULTITRACES stands for Multidisciplinary training in circular economy and smart valorisation of the rural area for new business models. The project has been developped by 8 public and private partners from Romania, Greece, Spain and Italy to set up a multidisciplinary training for university students for business development in rural areas in the framework of circular economy. The training aimed at building up the students capacities to address rural development through the circular economy entry point. It included activities like comparative analysis between partner countries and online courses.

Check-out the project results and contact the project leader to know more!

At the end of 2022, the ENER’Monts du Lyonnais event took place in the association of Communities Les Monts du Lyonnais from November 30th to December 2nd 2022 to continue the building of the Rural Resilience Roadmap for the LINK-EU project, co-funded by the European Union through the Citizens Equality Rights and Values programme.

The event was focused on local innovation in rural areas and systemic approaches. The Monts du Lyonnais community developed a transversal sustainability programme that supports a systemic transition. Gathering over 25 people from 7 E.U. countries, the group visited key places on the community to embrace its approach and sense of innovation.

The official opening took place in the “Eco Habitat Park” in Saint Symphorien sur Coize, and was followed by the visit of the anaerobic biogas plant “Méthamoly” and the biogas station right next to it. An inspiring example illustrating a successful cooperation between private (farmers) and public (the association of communities) entities to promote circular economy, renewable energy and waste management.

The next stop was in the village of Meys where an eco-neighborhood emerged from the problem of the size of the school becoming too small for the growing number of children. After a local dialogue, the construction of a new school using eco-materials and promoting sustainable practices (saving rain water, having a vegetalized rooftop to optimize comfort, etc) was decided. Around the school, shared gardens have been developed as well as social housing with a wood structure. Quite an inspiring initiative that led the mayor to extend the discussion to the organization of the whole village.

Later on, a workshop was organized at the participative bar “Le P’tit Clem” in Saint Clément les Place. The workshop discussed citizens’ participation and the place was born from a citizen’s initiatives. The group worked on their own trajectory to becoming a sustainable community, including discussions on citizen participation, clean and affordable mobility and circular economy in rural areas.

The next day was as stimulating with the visit of the public restaurant of Saint Martin en Haut in a building with a wood structure and heated by biomass energy where 80% of their food supplies from 20kms around and they work on waste reduction and send their food waste to the anaerobic digestor visited the day before. A neat example of circularity and education.

A workshop followed to allow participants to focus on the next step they must take to move towards resiliency and sustainability of their community. Each community defined 4-5 actions that they will take in the next 6 months, before our next encounter in Avila, Spain. In the afternoon, we visited the local concrete company that presented its actions to green the process of concrete production. Once again an inspiring example of an engaged private actor!

The event was closed with the discussions with the member of European Parliament Sylvie GUILLAUME who gave us the honor of joining us. Interesting discussions followed about the challenges faced in rural communities, but also the opportunity they represent on so many more subject than the energy transition.

The 2022 edition of RURENER annual meeting was yet another success! Thanks to the funding provided by the European Union through the Citizens Equality Rights and Values programme, this year’s event was a whirlwind of languages and discussions. Almost 40 participants from 7 EU countries took part in the workshops, presentations and visits between July 6th and July 8th, 2022. You can check the full report of the event here.

As the main goal of the LINK-EU project is the building of the Rural Resilience Roadmap, a key document for RURENER’s members, we are also opening up a public consultation to collect more contributions on the trajectory of rural territories, the current barriers and initiatives. Take a few minutes to give us your feedback!