Ghent won a Climate Star Award for coaching companies to reduce their energy consumption. In a pilot study the city of Ghent coached 15 companies. This resulted in a reduction of 1,820 tonnes C02 and total financial savings of 360,000 euro. Energy reductions of 20% were also achieved. This pilot took place from 2012 until 2014 within the Interreg-project ACE (Answers to the Carbon Economy).
The European network Climate Alliance awarded Ghent the prize for this project because the pilot illustrates that progressive climate policy goes hand-in-hand with economic recovery.
In October 2014 Ghent launched a new call for companies to enter the programme. Ghent will now coach 110 new companies to integrate energy efficiency into their business.
More information on the Climate Star Award.
The article (in Dutch) with video message of Deputy Mayor Tine Heyse