Kick-off conference of the ACCES project

On Monday, 30 September, SGI Europe organised the kick-off conference of its project, Accessible Climate-Conscious Essential Services (A.C.C.E.S.), in Brussels. This event brought together BDEW, UFE and USH representatives, the project partners, and key stakeholders from the energy, housing and water sectors across Europe to address the challenges and opportunities surrounding climate-conscious essential services.

The conference marked the beginning of a crucial initiative to ensure the availability, affordability and quality of essential services in the context of Europe’s green and digital transitions. With essential services at the heart of daily life, the project emphasises the need for cross-sectoral policy interventions to address the pressing infrastructure and regulatory challenges brought about by climate change, the green transition, and digitalisation. In her welcoming remarks, Ms. Valeria Ronzitti, SGI Europe Secretary General, emphasised that “services of general interest (SGIs) are important building blocks for the competitiveness of Europe, and need to be treated as such”. However,  SGIs are scattered across several principles within the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), making it challenging to address them cohesively. "We would like to see a more systemic approach on services of general interest from the Commission, and we hope that the data we have collected through this project will give a solid foundation for this", she added.

Ms. Alessia Fulvimari, representative from DG Employment, agreed with Ms Ronzitti on the scattered nature of services of general interest within the Pillar and the work of the European Commission, and noted the timeliness of this project, as essential services are included in the Political Guidelines for the upcoming Commission mandate, particularly in the planned EU Anti-poverty strategy.

With institutional representatives from DG EMPL and critical stakeholders, the kick-off conference facilitated a cross-sectoral dialogue around ‘climate change impacts and infrastructure challenges in the water, energy and housing sectors’ and the ‘best practices and innovative approaches to ensuring the availability, affordability and quality of essential services’. Representatives from the project partners outlined pressing issues in their sectors, while representatives of cross-sectoral organisations shared innovative practices and policies in their sectors of competence. Several key challenges and potential solutions have been identified during the discussions and will be the basis for the organisation of the sectoral workshops and for preparing the final report.

The kick-off conference of the A.C.C.E.S. project marked a critical step towards creating a more sustainable, fair, and inclusive approach to essential services across the European Union. And, as noted by Ms Fulvimari, representative of DG Employment, “the green transition and just transition must go hand in hand. They are not mutually exclusive, and Europe’s future depends on achieving both”. SGI Europe, BDEW, USH and UFE will continue their work in the framework of the A.C.C.E.S. project. The discussion around the topic will stay alive by organising sectoral workshops involving experts and practitioners from the water, energy and housing sectors.”

The full report of the kick-off conference of the A.C.C.E.S. project is available here.