On 30th March, EuropeActive attended the 2023 edition of the Clean Energy Summit, titled “Maintaining Europe's Green Momentum”. Through 7 panels and 2 interviews featuring over 40 prominent speakers from business, policy, civil society and academia, the Summit addressed the long-term sustainable solutions needed for the region to overcome the challenges of the current energy crisis and to reach its ambitious climate targets. The event outlined the importance of business commitments in four main areas; energy security, decarbonisation, sustainable supply chain and industrial competitiveness.
The Summit coincided with a provisional deal on renewable energy directive, reached by the European Council and the European Parliament on the same day. Its ambition is to raise the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030, with an additional 2.5% indicative top up that would allow reaching 45%. More ambitious sector-specific targets in transport, industry, buildings and district heating and cooling have been provisionally agreed.
30th March also saw the launch of a proposal for a Directive on empowering consumers for the green transition, with the aim of better informing and protecting consumers against unfair commercial practices. This initiative follows the 22nd March proposal for a Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (“Green Claims Directive”), which aims to address greenwashing by tackling false environmental claims made towards consumers and stop the proliferation of public and private environmental labels.
In line with this ambitious European sustainability agenda, EuropeActive is currently implementing the Erasmus+ funded project “Green Audit for Sport and Fitness Clubs” (2022-2024). This will enable a pilot of 30 clubs in 5 EU countries to assess their environmental impact through a comprehensive green assessment scheme, and ultimately support the fitness and sport sectors to become more sustainable.