Become a member
What opportunities does EECU membership offer?
EECU was founded in 2007 as an association of local governments that set out to achieve sustainable energy development in their communities. In accordance with the Statute, the Association's Executive Directorate was established to ensure coordination of actions and build its own expertise through statutory and project activities. It helps member cities to adapt the city's executive structure to meet the challenges of strategic and operational energy management on their territory, namely:
Implementation or improvement of the Energy Management System (EMS);- Support in the implementation of the Covenant of Mayors commitments;
- Preparing and conducting information campaigns on energy consumption culture in local communities;
- Exchange of experience and practices in modernization of urban infrastructure between Ukrainian cities and municipalities of EU countries.
- Implementation of the European Energy Award (EEA) quality management and certification system for communities. As the national office of the EEA in Ukraine, EECU offers communities, primarily its members, to join the cohort of EEA municipalities. Thanks to the grant project, the financial contribution of Ukrainian municipalities has been reduced to: EUR 1,000/year, and after the audit and start of the plan implementation - EUR 1,500/year, in addition, EECU pays for the necessary consultant services separately at the expense of the project. More information about the EEA is available here.
- The EECU Revolving Fund for Cities (EECU RFC) is a financial assistance instrument. The EECU Revolving Fund is an opportunity for city councils to provide interest-free repayable financial assistance to borrowers selected by a local tender committee through EECU. The city council itself determines the amount of voluntary contribution to the EECU RFC, the purpose of the reimbursable financial assistance, the terms of repayment and borrowers. The EECU Revolving Fund is administered at the expense of the EECU general fund. The EECU Revolving Fund of a particular community is used only for the needs and by the decision of that community. The community can return all the funds accumulated in the EECU Revolving Fund, for example, to co-finance large infrastructure projects or the activities of public utilities. The financing of projects in the housing sector using the EECU RFC mechanism is especially effective, as it helps to attract more and faster financial support from the state program "Energodom" of the Energy Efficiency Fund. More about AEECU RFC is available here.
- Involvement to the EECU structure - the Ukrainian Noncommercial Energy Agency (UNEA) - in the development of the SECAP and implementation of the planned energy efficiency and climate measures. UNEA is a platform of experts, consultants and business representatives for EECU communities. Through UNEA, communities can: order the organization of turnkey implementation of SECAPs; commission the selection of high-quality contractors for these works and provide support for implementation; order an analysis of the market for the implementation of certain projects and works in order to organize their implementation in the community. Learn more about UNEA here.
It is important to note that membership in the Association is not only the payment and use of membership fees in the established amount and procedure, but also a number of mutual obligations of cities and the Executive Directorate, as set out in the Regulations on Minimum Requirements for Member Cities. The cooperation between the city and the Association is formalised in a separate detailed plan, which serves as an annex to the annual agreement on payment of membership fees.
Procedure for joining the Association
The Association of Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine is a voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit association of local governments with a fixed membership, which operates in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine dated 21.05.1997 №280/97 "On Local Self-Government in Ukraine". Members of the Association are exclusively local self-government bodies, as well as associations (associations) of local self-government bodies that recognise the Statute, have paid the entrance and membership fees and participate in the implementation of the statutory purpose and objectives of the Association.
In order to become a member of the Association, a city council interested in becoming a member of a voluntary association should read the Statute of the Association, the amount of the entrance and membership fees, and adopt a decision at the city council session on joining the Association, paying the entrance and membership fees (a model of the council decision is provided in the section with sample documents below):
- Prepare a justification for the city council on the expected benefits of the city's accession to the Association with the calculation of the amount of contributions to the Association. The amount of the entrance and membership fees is determined by a special regulation approved at the general meeting of the Association (the latest version of the text of this regulation is provided in the section with sample documents below).
- Adoption of a decision by the city council on joining the Association and allocation of funds from the city budget to pay the entrance and membership fees.
- Based on the decision of the city council, the city mayor shall submit an application for membership in the Association of the established form to the President of the Association "Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine" under his/her signature.
- Admission to membership in the Association is carried out by the Board of the Association on the basis of a written application and consent to pay the entrance and membership fees, with further approval of the relevant decision of the Board by the regular general meeting of the Association. For the final registration of membership, the Association and the local self-government body shall conclude an Agreement on the payment of the entrance and membership fees to the Association "Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine" (the model of the relevant agreement is provided in the Annex).
- The refusal of the Board to accept a local self-government body as a member of the Association may be appealed at the next (extraordinary) general meeting of the Association.
Associations of local self-government bodies shall join the Association on the basis of a decision of their supreme governing body, and the decision on this shall be made in accordance with the charters of these associations. The application for membership in the Association "Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine" shall be signed by a person authorised to do so by the supreme governing body or the charter.
GEOGRAPHY OF EECU MUNICIPALITIES
White dots are communities located on the temporarily occupied territory.
