On May 1st, 2025, the MOT and the AEBR officially launched a European project dedicated to Cross-border Energy Communities (CBEC). Supported by DG REGIO, it aims to foster the development of energy communities in border areas, with technical support from REScoop.eu. Discover our presentation flyer!
On 3 February 2025, the study ‘Energy planning at the cross-border catchment area level’, proposed in the MOT's 2025 work programme and supported by the Strasbourg Eurometropole, the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict and the Banque des territoires, was launched.
Last month the European Commission published its ‘Handbook on Cross-border Energy Communities’. This document provides a broad overview of how to establish and manage cross-border energy initiatives while contributing to the energy transition and European cohesion objectives.
On January 25th, 2024, the European Commission announced that it had granted €594 million to eight cross-border energy infrastructure projects. Of these, three are in France, and two are on the Franco-Belgian border.
On November 28, the Commission adopted a list of 166 cross-border energy projects for EU support to help deliver the European Green Deal.
This was the wish expressed by the Franco-German Cross-Border Cooperation Committee (CCT) at its second annual meeting on October 23rd, 2023, in Offenburg, chaired by the Secretaries of State for Europe and General Secretaries for Franco-German Cooperation, Anna Lührmann and Laurence Boone.
The project to recover waste heat from the Badische Stahlwerke (BSW), Kehl's steelworks, is now entering its concrete phase.
Financed within the framework of the Interreg Grande Région program, the RECOTTE [RECOnversion of Territories through Ecological Transition] project focused on the reconversion of territories through ecological transition on a local cross-border scale.
125 cross-border projects were officially approved at the plenary session of the Collectivité Européenne d'Alsace (CEA) held on December 8th. The topic of energy took center stage!
The Cross-Border Renewable Energy programme (CB RES), part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme, opened a call to provide support for financing preparatory studies.
In the Franco-German region of Strasbourg-Kehl, the municipalities are in the process of implementing a flagship cross-border cooperation project for the extension of urban heating networks. Soon, the waste heat from the local steel mill will supply thousands of households on both sides of the Rhine.
The environment knows no borders, and neither does the climate!
As a further step towards the construction of the European electricity network, a new 190 km EHV line, entirely underground, is being built between Savoy and Piedmont. It will increase the electricity exchange capacity between France and Italy by 40%.
Within the framework of the 11th World Urban Forum, which took place in Katowice on 26-30 June, the PFVT (the French platform for urban development internationally) has published 14 booklets produced by all of the stakeholders involved in the French partnership during an intensive period of work in 2021.
Between late April and early May, three important topics for cross-border territories were the subject of discussions for the network’s working groups: the impact of cross-border projects on the environment; the issue of social security with respect to cross-border employment; and the definition and recognition of “cross-border living areas”. Below is a preliminary summary of the discussions.
In January 2022, the Summit of Greater Region Executives took stock at the midpoint in France’s presidency, particularly with respect to the industrial, digital and energy transitions, flood and drought risk prevention, food and promoting short supply chains, culture, youth, sport and tourism, healthcare and security.
AEBR and the European Commission’s DG REGIO have released a series of publications aiming at raising awareness of cross-border cooperation. These showcase relevant information gained through the implementation of the b-solutions initiative, which AEBR has managed on behalf of DG REGIO for the past four years.
A new MOT working group was launched on 14 December 2021, with 35 participants from varied backgrounds and sectors (protected natural areas, energy, transport, etc.).
On 19 November, the French President Emmanuel Macron came to the Avesnois and the Thiérache to sign a second-generation contract between the French state and the territory.
Following on from the MOT’s workshop “Breathing without borders” held on 13 October during the EURegionsWeek, the MOT has published three project factsheets corresponding to the examples of good practices presented during the workshop.
On the 10th anniversary of its creation on 27 October, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Euskadi Navarra Euroregion presented its new strategic plan.
The Greater Region’s Geographical Information System and ATMO Grand Est have joined forces in order to develop an interactive map that makes it possible to check air quality across the whole of the cross-border territory of the Greater Region.
On 22 November 2019, the Pas-de-Calais Department hosted the closing conference of the PASSAGE project in Arras. The MOT took part in it.
The successful bids for the call for projects “France-United Kingdom: for a strengthened cooperation between our local authorities” launched by the British Embassy in France, with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have been announced.
At the 2019 edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities, which brought together over 9,000 participants in Brussels, the MOT ran a workshop entitled "No country is an island: joint cross-border strategies for a clean energy transition".
