SIMPLA’s approach and work plan entailed 4 subsequent steps.
As a first step, a National Focal Point (NFP) was established in each project country. NFPs involved an organization with strong skills and experience in energy, mobility and sustainable development (a so-called ‘technical partner’), and one or more public authorities at regional/county level. Technical partners provided the sectoral skills and competences necessary for the harmonization of local energy and mobility plans, while public authorities brought about their regulating capacities and political support to the harmonization process.
As a second step, extensive consultations took place in the regions of the SIMPLA partnership. More than 350 stakeholders – including public authorities, academy and research centres, energy agencies, utilities, associations and environmental NGOs – took part in a series of focus group sessions and workshops to discuss governance strategies, policies and operational measures for energy and mobility. Their input was elaborated by an international team of energy, mobility and climate change experts to develop a sound methodology for the harmonization of energy and mobility planning, eventually embedded in ‘SIMPLA Guidelines for the harmonization of energy and mobility planning’. The guidelines were complemented by a set of solutions implemented in virtuous territories to serve as best practice examples (SIMPLA ‘turn-key energy-saving packages’) and an online observatory merging the guidelines with useful tools and resources in a hypertext logic.
As a third step, SIMPLA’s methodology was tested on the ground. 82 local authorities in the six project countries were selected by means of public calls to benefit from 6-day in-class trainings on the SIMPLA guidelines. In-class trainings were complemented by 6 webinars, each providing an insight on a specific relevant topic. Following the in-class trainings, the most motivated local authorities were granted 80 hours of coaching provided by qualified experts for the actual harmonization of their energy and mobility plans. Coaching services led to the harmonization of energy and mobility plans in 28 local authorities by the end of the project and seven more expected in the following months.
The last step focussed on fostering mutual learning and replication for further disseminating and exploiting SIMPLA’s results. To this end, 12 replicating organizations were selected by means of an international public call and engaged in setting up new NFPs in their respective countries to take up the SIMPLA approach. A final 3-day event, involving replicating organizations, project partners, local authorities having benefitted from SIMPLA’s coaching, and external guests, offered a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge, experiences and success stories at European level on themes related to integrated, multi-sector energy and mobility planning with a perspective on the sustainable future of cities, thus paving the way to the uptake of SIMPLA’s results beyond the partnership’s boundaries and the project’s lifetime.
