The Eco Maires French association was established in 1989 under the initiative of some fifty councillors from local authorities which make environmental and sustainable development policies a priority during their term in office. The association, its board and Chairman, Guy Geoffroy, Mayor of Combs-la-Ville and Member of Parliament for the Seine et Marne, wish to promote and federate local best practices and encourage new initiatives which work towards adapting consumer and production habits towards a sustainable development approach.

The Eco Maires support and act on behalf of nearly 1900 member communes and 2000 partner local authorities, making it a truly representative body across France’s political and territorial spectrum.

On the strength of its 20 years in activity, the Eco Maires association today represents the leading national network of councillors and local authorities acting on environmental and sustainable development issues.The network is a pioneer in political and methodological methods and represents a valuable tool for all territorial stakeholders who want to take up the double challenge of “think global, act local”.

Further to this philosophy, for the past 19 years the association has been holding an Eco Action Competition which highlights and rewards sustainable development initiatives. It rewards local authorities that show the highest levels of innovation in terms of sustainable development and contributes to the global mission of placing the environment at the heart of local authorities’ actions.

This year being no exception, a jury comprised of representatives from Ministries, the ADEME and national associations of councillors will allocate two prizes to local authorities for projects based on Eco building and Renewable Energies deployed on their territory.

The Eco Maires / Energaïa prize will be awarded this year during Energaïa 2009.
The 2008 winner was the commune of Betheney.

For more information and to submit entries for the competition: www.ecomaires.com


Les Eco Maires
E-mail: contact@ecomaires.com
Tel.: +33 (0)1 53 59 58 00