On October 4, at the UNDP office in Moscow, Russia, the final meeting was held of the Project Steering Committee for the UNDP-GEF Project "Building energy efficiency in the North-West of Russia" and the Round table "International experience on improving the energy efficiency of buildings."

The meeting began traditionally with the welcoming speech of the Project National Director, Deputy Director General of the FSBI "REA," Igor Kozhukhovsky, who thanked the audience for their attention and assistance in the implementation of the basic ideas of the Project, briefly summarized the major results of the large-scale project implemented in the territories of the Pskov, Vologda, and Arkhangelsk regions during 2011-2017.

The welcoming speech was also made by Acting Head of the UNDP office in Russia, Irina Bredneva, and the UNDP regional technical Advisor on climate change mitigation, John O'Brien, who also welcomed the participants.

Irina and John thanked the Project team and Project National Director for the efficient work of the Project and noted a great practical significance of the results, including the introduction of the EMIS, and expressed their hope for the successful implementation and replication of the results.

"We used to hear that the best UNDP-GEF project on energy efficiency is a project from Croatia, which in particular has successfully implemented a system of municipal energy management at the level of the whole country. At the end of the Project I can confidently say the same thing about the Russian building project," added John at the end of his presentation giving an overview of UNDP-GEF results.

Every year, experts of relevant ministries and key partners of the Project visit these meetings, and this year was no exception. Vitaly Kovalchuk, assistant of the Department of Industry and Infrastructure of the Russian Federation Government, welcomed the participants. In his speech, Vitaly noted the benefits that the Project brought to the development of energy efficiency, primarily in the construction industry and housing and communal services in our country, as well as in the development of the normative-legal base in this sphere and wished success in the future work. The specialist of the Housing and Communal Services Department of the RF Ministry of Construction, Alexander Fadeev, also gave a speech. He noted the Project's contribution in improving the normative legal base in the sphere of energy-efficient construction and its pilot.

Dmitry Vakhrukov, Deputy Director of the Department for State Regulation of Tariffs, Infrastructural Reforms and Energy Efficiency, who represented the Ministry of Economic Development, also delivered a speech. He noted the Project's contribution to the development of energy efficiency policy, including at the regional level, by implementing ideas of urban management, the establishment of regional centers for energy efficiency, and implementation of the demonstration objects for energy-efficient capital repairs. General Director of the Association of energy service companies "RAESKO," Vice-President of Bank "Russian capital," Irina Bulgakova, also greeted the Project's participants. She stressed the importance of practical implementation of developments for the urban system of energy management resources, the introduction of regional managers, the EMIS for implementation of energy savings policy at the municipal and regional level.

Project Manager Vitaly Bekker gave an overview of the activities of the UNDP-GEF Project, "Building energy efficiency in the North-West of Russia." He presented the audience the main activities of the Project and the video about the Project, which consisted of three parts: Component 1: Establishment of municipal energy management system, Component 2: Creation of a system of continuous education in the field of energy efficiency, Component 3: Demo-facilities of the new energy-efficient construction and capital repairs.

A presentation on international experience exchange and cooperation in the framework of UNDP-GEF projects through Skype with representatives from the UNDP Armenia (Vahram Jalalyan), UNDP Serbia (Maya Matejic), UNDP India (S. Srinivas). Colleagues noted the positive experience in cooperating with the Project to exchange experience in the introduction of energy management systems at the municipal level, with use of the EMIS as an effective tool for monitoring and analyzing data on energy consumption in the public sector.

After summarizing the results and decision making in the evaluation of the Project by the PSC Members, the awarding ceremony was held for the Members of the Project team, representatives of the pilot regions, and the Project's participants. Project Policy Adviser, O. Novoselova, read welcoming remarks to the PSC from the Deputy Governor of the Pskov region, Alexander Kuznetsov, and Diploma for substantial contribution to organization and holding events for the national Festival of energy savings "Togetherisbrighter" signed by the Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, Anton Inyutsyn.

Within the Round table, "International experience on improving energy efficiency in buildings," (with the participation of representatives of the Trust Fund of UNDP Regional Center for Europe and CIS, representatives of UNDP Ukraine, UNDP Uzbekistan, the Centre for International Industrial Cooperation UNIDO, Center for Energy Efficiency (Copenhagen, Denmark), NARFU, representatives of energy departments of several countries from Africa and South-East Asia), an exchange of opinions was held to discuss the issues of replication and utilization of the Project's results in energy conservation practices of foreign countries. The experience of creating systems for urban management of energy resources was discussed, including the use of the EMIS as a tool for monitoring energy consumption in a public sector, using the most effective technologies in construction and capital repairs, and questions on creating a system of continuous education in the field of energy conservation and in the development of an Internet portal of the Interregional centre for professional training on energy efficiency.

In general, the audience noted the significant success of the Project and the need to publicize its outcomes in order to replicate its key results. The PSC meeting was finished with the presentation of letters of appreciation to the PSC members and key Project partners.