Innovation and investment in environmental technologies, particularly recy¬cling, energy efficiency, water management and soil decontamination are the focus of Lahti’s Cleantech Cluster, located in southern Finland. Cleantech Cluster has transformed Lahti. Once lagging behind in research, it is now host to Finland’s leading environmental technology centre.
de | fi | fr | svThe project consists in replacing a highly polluting old gas-fuelled district heating boiler by new biomass-based equipment with lower emissions and more stable production and selling costs. It is located in a distressed neighbourhood of the city of Chambéry, France, which is the subject of an ‘integrated urban development programme for renewal’. The project has been designed and implemented by the Société Chambérienne de Distribution de Chaleur (SCDC). This private company provides heating and hot water under a 30-year contract with the city council. The project forms part of a jointly designed heating development strategy based on the transition from fossil to renewable energy as part of the local climate plan.
frThis Integrated Urban Programme in Seine-Saint-Denis on the outskirts of Paris illustrates the relation between the regeneration of a deprived urban area, Agenda 21 and inter-municipal cooperation, in the framework of regional and sub-regional master plans. Dedicated partnerships and multi-level governance are based upon endogenous resources and fed by a thriving civic tradition of participative democracy. The planning method of urban ecology is used as an investment in the service economy and green growth.
frA large industrial chemicals production complex in the north-west of Portugal is about to get even larger. Thanks to an EU co-funded project centred in Estarreja, CUF-Químicos Industriais, SA will develop significantly as a company and find itself better placed to protect existing jobs and to create new ones at its main site.
fr | ptTwo key tunnels for the emerging high-speed rail line between Madrid and Asturias in north-west Spain are being carved by heavy-duty machinery. When complete, they will speed up transport across difficult mountainous terrain.
es | frA major project to upgrade the management and distribution of water is underway around an area north of the three reservoirs at Nové Mlýny, in south-east Czech Republic. When completed, it will benefit some 15 700 people in the municipalities of Ivančice and Oslavany.
cs | frThe Rohozec Brewery in Malý Rohozec, near Turnov, northern Czechia, acquired a new steam boiler with ERDF funding to make its operation more environmentally friendly. This has enabled it to continue its long tradition of beer making, with less energy. The EU-funded project was part of an upgrade of the brewery, a process that began in 2004 with the involvement of private investors.
csWe all want to become smarter in ecological housing. K-Easy is a project about becoming totally ecologically smart in housing: how to plan, build, renovate and recycle ecologically. K-Easy brings together innovation and good practices of low carbon city planning, energy efficient housing and smart technologies, comprehensive planning of building renovation, making use of building waste and upgrading waste management and recycling.
fi | fr | svKey water infrastructure across an extensive area of the Czech Republic is being improved over the next few years. The goal is to bring various urban water facilities in the Jihovýchod region up to the highest European standards.
cs | frThis is a national case study focused on waste prevention and management in Hungary and is part of the ex post evaluation of cohesion policy programmes co-funded by the ERDF (Objectives 1 and 2) for 2000-2006 and their impact on the environment and climate change.