Thanks to the Covenant of Mayors award received earlier this spring, we had the opportunity to lead our own session during the conference. The event's theme was Good Practices of the Cities, aiming towards Climate-neutral Heating and Cooling.

At the event led by Development Director Markku Heinonen, Environmental Director IIlkka Räsänen presented the district heating production in Lappeenranta, recent developments in the sector, and the key factors that influenced those changes. In addition, speakers included representatives from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy, the EU Covenant of Mayors, the Danish city of Sønderborg, the Spanish city of Viladecans, and the Belgian city of Ghent.

As former U.S. Vice President Al Gore noted in his video message during the opening of the conference, Europe is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, which makes collaboration and the exchange of experiences between European cities important.