Bellona would like to invite you to A dialogue on low-carbon future – Workshop on developing a common vision to support the EU’s energy related decision-making to share with you our experience in getting dialogue  on energy issues started among stakeholder organisations in 10 European countries. The communication gap between research organisations and civil society organisations can be filled, leading to better responsiveness of research agendas to civil society input, quicker and wider implementation of technological/innovation breakthroughs and timely delivery of the legislative measures needed to support them. We would like to discuss how the different actors (science, policymakers, industry etc.) can contribute to overcoming the gap and talk about dialogue in the EU’s decision-making related to the transition to low carbon societies and a sustainable future.

The citizen/stakeholder participation in the development of energy strategies and their implementation is crucial yet insufficiently addressed. It is a complex subject and having an honest dialogue about the situation in the energy sector is a difficult aim to achieve. We would like to discuss together with the audience what possible options exist to aid this situation. How to organise a dialogue on a local/regional/national scale dedicated to energy and transition to a low carbon society and the role of science and society in this framework. We aim for a dialogue on possible ways ahead:

• How to engage society and science in decision-making processes?
• How to increase the dialogue on the transition to a low carbon society?
• What does a low carbon society mean?
• What is the meaning of international/interregional cooperation/dialogue on energy issues?
• Energy dialogue organised by the EESC
• How FP7 project R&Dialogue is starting to address these issues?

The event’s purpose would be to draw attention to how important dialogue and including all levels of society in that dialogue is. We are aiming for a varied audience – starting from representatives of the Commission, who are involved in building Horizon 2020 future calls, future MEPs who will be involved in the decision-making after the next election period, various stakeholders from the Brussels arena but also internationally. We would like to enable networking between different MSs, so as to make sure that foundations for a dialogue are laid on the way to a knowledge transfer. It would be excellent to attract audience from civil society organisations, research organisations and industry, to have a balanced discussion with various inputs.

The event is a part of a yearly EU Sustainable Energy Week, which returns for its ninth edition from 23 to 27 June 2014. Bellona, along with the consortium of an EU’s FP7 project R&Dialogue, would like to showcase how important it is to start developing a common vision to support EU’s energy related decision-making. The workshop will take place in Brussels on 24 June, 9:00 a.m. till 13:00 p.m.

Launched in 2006 as an initiative of the European Commission, the EUSEW has become a reference point for public authorities, energy agencies, private companies, NGOs and industry associations engaged in helping to meet the EU’s energy and climate goals. For those interested in renewable and efficient energy, this week of conferences has become crucial.

You can find the event’s details and registration here.