World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated on 5 June every year, and is the United Nations' principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of our environment. This year’s theme is the protection of biodiversity – a concern that is both urgent and existential.
The transition to a climate-neutral economyin order to tackle Climate Change is a major challenge for countries around the world and requires the application of innovative technologies that will contribute to sustainable economic development and be environmentally friendly. The future generations are relied on whether we will be able to reduce the emissions of fossil fuels.
Greece is actively participating in this global effort, with the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) as a key tool, which plays the role of a national "roadmap" for achieving the goals of the European Green Deal. The European Green Deal sets the framework for a transition to a climate-neutral economy by 2050.
This is an extremely positive first step that sheds light on legal issues, safe and clean energy, issues related to industry and the circular economy, mobility, but also issues related to sustainable agricultural production and food security.
The Institute of Energy for SE Europe (IENE) is actively participating and supports such actions that contribute to the "Energy Transition" and lead to an environment with lower and zeroemissions , through the adoption of clean energy sources and related technologies. In this context, it regularly organizes conferences, workshops and Webinars with the participation ofacademics, senior energy executives and experts.
While at the same time, IENE focuses on its research work, where recent projects include studies that covered the introduction of Electric Mobility in Greece and SE Europe, the operation of the New Electricity Market in Greece and SE Europe based onthe Target Model, with increasedRES use. In addition, IENE's recent study portfolio covers the higher penetration of energy-saving and energy-efficient systems, the further development of the natural gas market in SE Europe through the creation of Gas Trading Hubs, and the introduction of electricity storage systemsinto the grid(detailedstudies include the islands of Kastellorizo and Crete).
IENE, through its extensive activity in most of the countries of SE Europe, is pursuing actions concerning the hot topic of decarbonization of the wider region and the development of alternative energy sources.
Finally, it should be mentioned that "Energy Transition" is of particular concern to IENE, since through its regular newsletters and analyses, this has emerged as a major topic in the current discussion on energy policy and the need to differentiate the energy mix, with the main goal of lowering and even eliminating the carbon footprint.
