3th International Conference – Canary Islands

Small islands provide a natural laboratory for the circular economy, according to the third edition of Greening The Islands, which expanded its vision this year beyond its traditional topics of energy, water and mobility to embrace issues of waste management, agriculture and sustainable tourism, all seen as part of an integrated drive to enhance livelihoods on small islands.

The two-day summit, bringing together some of the islands most committed to sustainability, began its deliberations with discussion about the policies that are needed to promote investment in environmentally friendly projects in the hundreds of thousands of islands dotted around the world. The opening debate found agreement on the need for joint action towards governments and institutions in order to convince them of the need for coherent development

policies that respect the different needs of individual islands, allowing for a certain degree of autonomy in managing their resources.

Focusing in particular on the topics of energy and water, the event heard about concrete projects that could be replicated across a wide number of localities: the Danish island of Samsø which will be fossil free by 2030; a hybridization project by Terna Plus combining traditional and renewable energy on the island of Giannutri; the island of Ta’u Samoa that will go 100% renewable thanks to Tesla storage systems; best practice in energy efficiency by Gewiss; innovative applications in water desalination of Protecno; and the “zero-emissions” plan presented by the local council of Favignana and the island’s power utility SEA.

With electric mobility a key issue on the international scene, Joeri De Ridder, president of the World Electric Vehicle Association, underlined the opportunity that exists to reinforce the nexus with renewables, including by developing so-called vehicle-to-grid solutions, in which vehicle batteries not only draw power from the grid but can also feed into the electric system, helping to ensure greater stability. Equally interesting for islands is the project presented by Peter Paul Barbaraof the Maltese government’s Elettromobility Platform to reduce fuel consumption by ships and in the port area.

Islands often find themselves facing drought with dramatic impacts on agriculture, as pointed out by Sara Mariani Zadeh of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). This makes it important to spread best practices on water management, drawing on examples such as the project on Cape Verde to recycle water for use in agricultural activities, thus saving drinking water for more needy purposes.
The conference closed on the theme of waste. Mario Jorizzo of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic

Development (Enea) explained the Ge.Ri.N project for correctly managing Posidonia oceanica seagrass from the beaches of the island of Favignana and ways it can be re-used; José Manuel Rosa Nunes from the Azores spoke of the need to roll back years of real-estate speculation by the hospitality industry and the role sustainable tourism could play in the circular economy. The proceedings ended with a visit to the Canary Islands’ Institute of Technology (ITC) with an explanation of applications put into practice by the institute around the themes addressed during the Greening The Islands conference.

A gala dinner saw the announcement of the second edition of the Greening The Islands Awards, which recognized innovative projects that can be easily replicated on other islands and have a greater impact on emissions reductions.

The awards were given in categories including: renewable energy and energy efficiency; water, sustainable mobility.