Periodic Reporting for period 2 - REMARKABLE (REMARKABLE Climate Leaders Achieving 2050 Climate Neutrality)
Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2024-08-31
The now completed REMARKABLE project (2021-2024) has supported local leaders to deliver progress towards carbon neutrality by 2050 in 7 regions across Europe. The Climate Emergency and Energy Transition agendas require clear leadership, ambition, courage and conviction to meet 2050 targets and goals. REMARKABLE successfully created a network of Current and Emerging Climate Leaders who, through their actions and inspiration, will continue to drive their municipalities, public authorities, communities and regions. The legacy of REMARKABLE is the people who will continue to transform their approaches from those focused mainly on energy efficiency/renewables to those focused on the strategic goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Having set new levels of ambition compared to National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) through Climate Neutrality Roadmaps they exemplify local leadership and innovation. REMARKABLE has build new leadership capacity across more than 170 actors from 7 countries in Europe though a Climate Leadership Programme (CLP) designed with and for leaders across public authorities, municipalities, civil society and politics. REMARKABLE has availed of the discipline of ethnography, as a trademark methodology of anthropology, to develop the CLP with, rather than solely for participants. Through our people-centred approach, the REMARKABLE CLP has addressed the key characteristics, drivers and behaviours of pioneering leaders; and, even more importantly, researched and documented the challenges i.e. lack of knowledge, capacity, organisational support etc. which hinder the implementation of current and emerging strategies. REMARKABLE partners have developed 14 Climate Neutrality services to expand their roles as change agents in the Clean Energy Transition and Climate Neutrality challenges. Climate Neutrality Training, Climate One Stop Shops, Storytelling and Communications, Coaching and Activation are some of the services which have been developed through REMARKABLE. Partners will continue to exploit outcomes and results through the the EU Climate Leaders Circle. Groundbreaking and long-term measures towards Climate Neutrality will continue to be shared through this Circle. An innovative Climate Neutrality Challenge was successfully organised for Young Climate Leaders in Austria in 2023, to target new innovations and ideas. The REMARKABLE Climate Leaders Circle has already generated synergies with existing networks and initiatives to support and enhance the REMARKABLE impacts, complementing the technical, financial and policy capacity building agendas with new knowledge on Leadership and Climate Neutrality.
REMARKABLE is unique as rather than solely focusing on technological or other material-based solutions, it is people-centred by design, meaning it is focused on human relations, skills and knowledge. REMARKABLE partners have developed a number of ethnographic research procedures through the co-production phase with the current climate leaders, we developed a Climate Leaders Programme (CLP) that aimed at facilitating increased leadership capacity in all partner regions. Initially a CLP Design Proposal was developed arisingout of the results of the ethnographic research conducted within the first 18months of the project development of this unique training programme and the delivery of a pilot phase of the training. The CLP has been at the core of the REMARKABLE initiative and presents a specific approach, which enables capacity building across the local authority sectors in Europe. TUS, having supported the development of the CLP programme is following a number of exploitation routes including • Development of a CLP MOOC (Massive Open and Online Course) which could be provided in multiple languages. This CLP would focus on the theoretical components of the CLP delivered within REMARKABLE and should be accompanied at a local level with workshops and facilitation through local/regional energy agencies. • Development of specific accredited academic programmes within TUS which are inspired by CLP approach and content eg Decarbonisation of Built Environment, Energy Communities Project Development, Climate Action Leadership and Futures Thinking for Climate Neutrality • Implementation of Climate Leadership Training within other public bodies (other than local authorities) commencing with Climate Leadership training for all senior leaders in TUS with the view to rolling out a specific CLP programme for Higher Education Institutes in Ireland (and other EU HEIs). A Climate Neutrality Roadmap (CNR) Guide was developed by partners in Croatia (REGEA), to serve as a guidance document for developing and implementing CNR. It contains insights into where to access the needed information, exploiting the existing resources from International and EU initiatives, focusing mainly on the energy part of the Roadmap.
Remarkable continues to meet and exceed a number of it proposed impacts. The Climate Leaders Circle group in LinkedIn will remain, as it serves as a supplementary platform for professional networking and sharing space for articles, collaboration opportunities and research. In the next phase of REMARKABLE we will add another tool for more structured collaboration. EKN will create a sustainability plan and analyse other tools for creating a sustainable online community and use Ai to overcome language barriers. The sustainability plan will also include a new growth strategy to expand to new European regions and scale the REMARKABLE Climate Leaders model across Europe with opportunities for expansion beyond the EU. Climate Leaders Circle will enhance climate leadership culture across European municipalities and foster exchange, mutual support and collaboration by developing a number of Climate Leaders Ambassadors that will support the growth of the Circle who will publish content and communicate in the LinkedIn group, speak at webinars, host study visits and express interest and availability for peer learning through the Remarkable website. The REMARKABLE Climate Leaders Circle will create synergies with existing networks and initiatives e.g. COMO, ManagEnergy, CoM to support and enhance their impacts, complementing the technical, financial and policy capacity building agendas with new knowledge on Leadership and Climate Neutrality by participating in EU events. REGEA has developed the guidelines for the Carbon Neutrality Roadmaps which supports users in developing their respective roadmaps when working with their local authorities and municipalities. The knowledge and expertise developed through REMARKABLE is being used to inform other activities including • ManagEnergy masterclasses on financial instruments and investments. • Development of heating and cooling plans • Working with FEDARENE to ensure the climate neutrality mapping process is disseminated and promoted as an approach through COMO. The CNRs, developed as part of the REMARKABLE project, are designed as practical tools created by climate leaders to directly guide future decision-making. These roadmaps serve as actionable frameworks to help cities achieve climate neutrality. All project partners collaborated to develop the "Climate Neutrality Roadmap Guide," which consolidates existing municipal documents into a single comprehensive strategy. For cities lacking climate and energy strategies, the Guide provides a starting point for developing their own plans.