Just like everyone else, RURENER had great ambitions for 2020, including field study tours, cooperation and projects events throughout Europe. But COVID-19 hit us and the plans had to be reviewed. Thanks to the resilience of our small organization, we were able to switch many events and meetings online or to find hybrid solutions. Our carbon footprint has never been lower!

2019 is dedicated to the first steps of the COLEOPTER project. Funded by the Interreg Sudoe programme, the project allows RURENER to deepen its experience on dialogue and consensus building. It becomes a central pillar of the network. In 2019, the team grows with the arrival of Théo to work on COLEOPTER.

2018 is a thriving year for RURENER: new projects, new tools and services and more members! In 2018, we gain visibility by contributing to emblematic European events such as the European Sustainable Energy Week or the European Days for the Energy Transition. Our voice in Brussels in being heard thanks to the work done with the European Countryside Movement. And to make it even more exciting, RURENER gets a brand new graphic charter.

RURENER becomes independent and hires its first employee: a European Coordinator to conduct the "2017 Year of Innovation for Rural Energy" project

With the growing importance of civil society in the political arena, the question of governance becomes unavoidable in territorial projects. RURENER decided to build a new project of shared governance: The Citizens Climate Assembly. The first step of the project is the work with the Belgium partners from the Luxembourg Province who are implementing the project. The goal is to spread the project to other European territories but political opposition will abort the implementation of the project in other territories.
A new partnership with the R.E.D (Rurality Environment Development) is developed.

The network gets stronger at the European and international levels by participating at the COP 21 in Paris. It is a turning point for RURENER that reassesses its role of being the voice of European rural territories on energy issues.
In total, close to 700 territories joined the network from 12 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

RURENER takes off and becomes independent. A new cooperation project (LEADER) is put in place: « Dream tomorrow’s energy ». The project gives to more than 1, 000 children from France and Romania the chance to imagine the future of energy use and energy resources in their territories. With art and games, children give their vision of what the energy should be like in a world that will be theirs tomorrow, and they give their ideas to solve the energy problem.

RURENER is partner of the TEPOS mouvement in France engaged in the 100%RES project to support rural communities to engage in the transition. This project aims at experimenting and developing the model of joint Sustainable Energy Action Plans elaboration and implementation in rural territories and towns. In this model, rural towns sign the Covenant of Mayors together with a territorial authority acting as Territorial Coordinator.

After the efforts put in the project, RURENER has to go on. Thanks to Macéo’s support, the network keeps mobilizing rural territories engaged in the energy transition. From then on, organizations and individuals can also join the network. In the year of 2012, RURENER gets engaged in the 100% RES project. German territories join RURENER.

After the RURENER project, 700 rural territories across Europe decided to join the network. All engaged in the energy transition, these territories use the network to build new projects and share at the European level. Strengthened by the success of the RURENER project, the network becomes an organization to maintain the dynamic that just started.

The network encompasses territories from 8 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Scotland.

The network grows, more and more members decide to join to be the change they want for tomorrow.

Birth of the RURENER project funded by the program Intelligent Energy Europe that engaged partners from 8 European countries.