Multi stakeholder and governance approach for SECAP development and implementation

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PentaHelix (Multi stakeholder and governance approach for SECAP development and implementation)

Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2021-09-30

PentaHelix (www.pentahelix.eu) is a European funded project developed in the framework of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The overall aim of PentaHelix is to empower local and regional authorities to find innovative and cost-effective approaches to develop, finance, implement and improve sustainable energy and climate action plans (SECAP) that contribute to reaching national and European climate and energy goals and policies. The PentaHelix project developed and tested a new approach for integrating multi-governance planning for sustainable energy, both horizontal and vertical, together with close interaction with key stakeholders in energy efficiency and sustainable energy solutions. Here, integrated development focuses on five different stakeholder groups, who constitute the PentaHelix pillars:
• Public authorities (local, regional, national and international);
• Industry (and businesses such as SMEs, farmers, trade etc);
• Academia (research and educational institutes);
• NGOs (associations, interest organisations, etc);
• Citizens
Representatives of the PentaHelix pillars constitute the task force groups, that serve as a driver for a wider scope of the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs), as well as bringing in valuable insights and identification of potential measures, system solutions and a better understanding of drivers and barriers for a more sustainable society as a whole, in each specific region. The approach is developed and tested in Belgium, Croatia, Latvia, Norway and Spain, which enabled its validation across a wide set of different economic, climate, social and political conditions.
Furthermore, the project developed a peer-to-peer online platform (https://pentahelix.eu/climate-forum-7/) for SECAP development that can be used by multiple public authorities in joint planning and implementation. This enables the integration of different administrative levels and geographical planning areas as well as enhance the cost efficiency in the entire planning and implementation process based on economy of scale and closer cooperation and exchange.

As the main results of the PentaHelix approach, the following can be highlighted:
-PentaHelix guidelines
In the early phase of the Project, PentaHelix guidelines were developed. Those guidelines highlight that the key to a successful SECAP is a good involvement process, including a wide range of stakeholders from all pillars of the PentaHelix approach. To structure the involvement process and ensure that all parts of the society are involved, a local or regional “PentaHelix taskforce” should be established. Municipalities showed strong interest in the PentaHelix approach, which resulted in the total number of 26 pilot municipalities developed 19 SECAPs instead of the targeted 8 and 75 replication municipalities implementing the PentaHelix method in their SECAP development and implementation. In addition to the pilot municipalities, 16 replication municipalities developed 16 SECAPs by following the PentaHelix approach and additional 59 replication municipalities are in the process of SECAP development by following the PentaHelix approach. From those 59 replication municipalities, 48 developed at least an Emission Inventory and/or Risk and Vulnerability assessment.
-Guidelines on climate communication and training materials
To ensure that SECAPs are well anchored and increase the implementation rate of climate actions, guidelines for climate communication and climate communication training materials have been developed within the PentaHelix project. The training materials have been tested at two workshops; one for municipalities in Norway and one for the project partners and actors from all five pillars of the PentaHelix: public, industry, academia, NGOs, and citizens. The climate communication guidelines and training materials have been translated to English, Dutch, Croatian, Latvian, Norwegian, and Spanish. When developing Climate communication guidelines, the strong focus has been set on visual identity. The guidelines have been presented and shared during task force meetings, workshops and conferences, organised by the Consortium members, and during the events where the PentaHelix approach was presented.
-PentaHelix platform
PentaHelix platform “Climate Forum” is a web-based tool accessible via the PentaHelix official website and integrated within it. The platform includes various relevant information, materials and documents for SECAP development and is organized as a communication platform.
-Barrier and driver database
A comprehensive analysis was conducted on the barriers and potential drivers for the development and implementation of SE(C)APs. The findings conducted in the online survey provided a great insight into drivers which motivate representatives of the five pillars of the PentaHelix to develop and implement SECAPs, as well as barriers that prevent or slow down SECAP development and implementation. In the work with the members of the task forces, as well as other stakeholders who have been engaged in the project, insights into additional drivers and barriers, which are relevant to the five pillars of the PentaHelix, were collected.

There are several outcomes of the PentaHelix project, which made a progress beyond the state of the art. Some of those impacts are:

Norwegian municipalities signing the CoM
Nordic municipalities have long been reluctant to join Covenant of Mayors, even though nearly all of them have SECAPs.Viken County identify as the main issues: Lack of knowledge about CoM, lack of drivers for joining CoM due to national laws requiring SECAPs, and discrepancies between the climate and energy data available nationally and data required by CoM. To address these issues, Viken County Council has joined CoM as a regional coordinator and initiated a dialogue on whether it is possible to streamline reporting on data for all Norwegian municipalities. Information about CoM has been spread through direct dialogue with a number of municipalities. Perception of time-consuming reporting is the main barrier for many municipalities. To address this issue, the county council has developed two new tools: the climate dashboard and the energy dashboard: https://pentahelix.eu/the-climate-dashboard-and-the-energy-dashboard-norway/

Primary energy savings, renewable energy production and investments
During the project, PentaHelix partners worked with 24 pilot municipalities and 95 replication municipalities. Work with pilot municipalities triggered primary energy savings of 1381.69 GWh/year, the renewable energy production of 2226.74 GWh/year and investments of 1250.86 million €. Work with replication municipalities triggered primary energy savings of 5702 GWh/year, the renewable energy production of 516.42 GWh/year and investments of 2415.85 million €. Those primary energy savings, renewable energy production and investments are expected to be implemented during SECAP lifetimes, of pilot and replication municipalities.
As a part of the PentaHelix process, during the project lifetime, 126 actions identified in existing SE(C)APs have been implemented. From those 104 measures are mitigation measures and 22 measures are adaptation measures. Implementation of those measures resulted in primary energy savings of 292.93 GWh/year, the renewable energy production of 1667 GWh/year and a total investment of 350.27 m €.

PentaHelix Consortium

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PentaHelix (Multi stakeholder and governance approach for SECAP development and implementation)

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