CONCERTO initiative continues to grow Towards clean and efficient energy use in all European buildings Brussels, Belgium: 13 new communities have joined the CONCERTO Initiative, bringing the total number of local authorities involved to 58. Out of the five new countries represented, three are accession States or candidate countries, showing that the initiative is playing a major part in achieving climate and energy targets both in Central and Eastern Europe, and in the EU Neighbourhood. This has been possible as a result of an integrated approach including relevant stakeholders and local authorities, supported by the European Commission within a framework research programme. The CONCERTO initiative was launched in 2003 by the European Commission as part of the research framework programme to enhance the role of cities and local authorities as driving forces towards sustainable community development. In CONCERTO, research activity is a demonstration laboratory where models for future urban developments are implemented through an integrated approach by showing that in society, the use of RES technologies and EE in buildings are compatible with improvement in the quality of life. The four new projects are composed as follows: • SOLUTION: Cernier (Switzerland), Hartberg (Austria), Hvar (Croatia) and Lapua (Finland); • PIME'S: Salburua (Spain), Dale (Norway), and Szentendre (Hungary); • ECO-Life: Birstonas (Lithuania), Kortrijk (Belgium) and Høje-Taastrup (Denmark); • GEOCOM: Mórahalom (Hungary), Galanta (Slovakia) and Montieri (IT). So far around 190,000m² of buildings have been renovated, while an enormous 270, 000m² of new buildings have been constructed. The projects are well on their way to achieving the targets they have set, which will eventually mean more than 1,730,000 m² of renovation or new construction in European cities.
