The European LIFE OCTOPUS project holds its first progress-review meeting in Warsaw

23/09/2025

The Basque Country’s role in the project is to bolster the climate and energy support provided to local authorities through Udalsarea 2030.

A year after its launch, all the participants in the European LIFE OCTOPUS project have travelled to Warsaw to assess the work carried out and agree on the next steps. The Basque Country is one of the territories in which the project is being rolled out; its consortium partners are the Basque Government’s Environmental Management Agency (Ihobe) and the Basque Energy Board (EVE). 

Extremadura, the Republic of Cyprus, the Mazovian Voivodeship region in Poland, the Usti Region in Czechia, and the French regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Isère are taking part along with the Basque Country. The partners from all those and European regions held a follow-up meeting between 16 and 18 September, a year after LIFE OCTOPUS was launched 

The OCTOPUS project aims to accelerate the energy and climate transition by empowering regional and local authorities, and the energy and environmental agencies to develop and implement innovative energy solutions in this field adapted to their regions. Seven Enabling Organisational Networks (EON) will therefore be set up or reinforced over 36 months. The Basque Country already has its own, as this role has been entrusted to Udalsarea 2030 - the Basque Network of Sustainable Municipalities. 

On the first day, the consortium focused on analysing the project’s progress overall by reviewing goals, initial results, challenges, opportunities and next steps. The second day consisted of developing the training programme among EONs, over four working sessions: setting the goals of the training programme; defining the needs and challenges identified by each EON; determining the content that the training programme should include to drive preparing and implementing Energy and Climate Plans through the EONs; and planning the programme’s future workshops. 

In turn, Udalsarea 2030 championed the support role of this type of networks in order for municipalities or local authorities to be able to make the most of the opportunities offered by European initiatives such as the EU Covenant of Mayors. 

‘Among other aspects, we would like the training programmes among EONs to stress the benefits that they can mean for their municipalities or local authorities, such as funding opportunities, greater visibility and recognition, along with sharing experiences and learning about what is being done elsewhere’, explained the Ihobe, EVE and Udalsarea 2030 representatives at the Warsaw meeting.  

Udalsarea 2030: Basque Network of Sustainable Municipalities - LIFE OCTOPUS Project