Public Authorities together with a holistic network approach on the way to low-carbon municipalities

Deliverables

During the first project meeting, Hespul will organise a workshop for partners to define key words, messages and images associated to PATH2LC identity and DNA. This work will initiate the strategy, in addition to the identification of target groups, approaches, activities, tools, dissemination plan, indicators to measure communication impacts and provisional budget and calendar. It is important to involve partners at the beginning of the project on dissemination aspects to facilitate appropriation and empowerment.

Interactive online knowledge base of guiding materials and tested tools for local authorities

This task will develop a knowledge platform on tested tools, methods and guiding documents for developing long-term local energy transition roadmaps. The information will be made available in an online platform. It will provide calculation and planning as well as road mapping tools and guiding documents designed for the stakeholders of local authorities. The information will be structured according to the following main topics: 1) Heating and Cooling planning, 2) Financing of energy efficiency and renewables, 3) Energy efficiency in buildings, 4) Community, consumer and stakeholder engagement. Further topics and tools identified in the peer to peer learning process such as mobility and transport will be equally included. The knowledge platform will include tools and guidelines developed within other previous and ongoing projects and initiatives (see chapter 1 for a detailed description). The platform will be integrated into the project website (set up and developed within WP5). Apart from easy access to existing information, the platform will offer the opportunity for public authorities to exchange views on specific topics online. This will enable networking and peer-to-peer learning among stakeholders, not only within learning municipality networks on regional level, but also national and EU-wide.

Website, e-news, social media

A project website will be set up and maintained, including information about the project and consortium, news and upcoming activities of networks. The newsletters will also be published on the website. Dissemination at European level will be supported by using a Twitter account.

Publications 2: press releases, published papers, poster sessions, media activities, surveys, guidelines

Articles, poster sessions, media activities, surveys, guidelines will be published to share our insights at important milestones of the project. In order to spread the results to the general public on national level, press releases will be written for every case study at the beginning and at the end of the project.

Poster, leaflet, roll-up

According to the strategy, the promotion material will also include a leaflet, poster and roll-up summarizing the project description and some at the end of the project with final results. All promotion material will be in English for European dissemination and the leaflet and poster will be available in national languages, with translations given by partners and integrated by the subcontractor of the WP leader.

Publications 1: press releases, published papers, poster sessions, media activities, surveys, guidelines

Articles, poster sessions, media activities, surveys, guidelines will be published to share our insights at important milestones of the project. In order to spread the results to the general public on national level, press releases will be written for every case study at the beginning and at the end of the project.

Working paper on barriers, success factors and decision process on local level

The status of SEAP/ SECAP measures and the potential barriers at the beginning of the project will be compared to the results at the end of the project, revealing how certain barriers have been overcome with the network approach (task 4.5). The comparative analysis of municipalities within the respective networks will be presented and discussed in the network meetings. The results of all networks will be summarised in a working paper on barriers, success factors and decision making processes in the local energy and climate protection transition.

Guideline on long-term transition roadmaps for municipalities

A guideline will be produced describing the procedure and the elements of generating an energy transition roadmap. The guideline comprises how to integrate these roadmaps into the strategic decision-making process of a municipality, including the challenges, opportunities, benefits and considerations. The target group of the guideline are local public authorities.

Power Point presentations on barriers, success factors and decision process of municipalities within each Learning Municipality Network (5 presentations)

Barriers represent inhibitive factors for the use and implementation of (cost-effective) measures that can principally be overcome by supporting measures. Relevant barriers in the context of public authorities on local level might include for example imperfect information, adverse selection, split incentives, form of information, risk aversion, etc. Decision making processes and the interaction among stakeholders of different administrative levels and authorities within a municipality is also highly relevant for the outcome with regard to the implementation of energy and climate protection targets and measures. For the empirical analysis, stakeholders from each participating municipality will be interviewed, depending on the organisational structure e. g. representatives from urban planning, energy planning, mayors (if possible), environmental department, etc. The interviews will be conducted by the local partners in national languages. A guideline for all interviews is developed and adapted according to regional situation and experience during the process. The partners will record the interviews and provide an interview summary of each interview in English.The analysis of the interviews will be presented to each Learning Municipality Network in a PowerPoint presentation (5 presentations), D24.The results of the empirical analysis will be used to identify the focuses in the capacity building regarding expert inputs as well as trainings on communication and stakeholder involvement in the networks.

Guideline for setting up learning municipality networks

All results, the two success stories and the above-mentioned platform, will lead to a guideline for setting up a learning municipality network. In this guideline, a step-by-step approach is described so that follower cities, who want to create on their own such networks, get a sort of manual to work with. The guideline will be available to the public and promoted in WP 5.

D2.8: Expert Presentation

Three presentations on three topics will be held by the CNNL representatives during the 4th, 5th and 6th project meeting, respectively, showing their approaches and experiences for the other networks to discuss.

Description of facilitators' kit and collection of helpful documents for broad audience

The training is based on the facilitator’s kit for network operators elaborated during the trainings of the energy efficiency network in the industry and tertiary sector. The facilitator’s kit comprises all relevant elements of network activities regarding SEAP/SECAPs for municipalities:• the orientation on vision, goals and targets, senses and values;• theories and models, for e.g. heating and cooling planning tools, solar registers, building stock models as well as communication models, theme-centred interaction etc.;• principles and rules for conducting the network meetings in an efficient, target- oriented and fruitful way;• algorithms and sequences that are needed to allocate different steps at different times, including e.g. the conduct of a meeting as well as the design of a whole network phase of three years or more;• different techniques for visualisation, documentation, stimulating creativity, questioning, discussion phases, decision making phases and feedback phases etc. and• use of various tools for the abovementioned techniques.

Report on recommendations for an improvement of the applied approach of learning municipality network in PATH2LC

the data and results from task 4.2 to 4.5 will be considered to derive recommendations on how to implement effective learning municipality networks under various conditions and on how the networks can be further disseminated.In order to transfer the findings to other cities, one part of the analysis is to find common influencing factors and possible solutions. In order to do so, all findings are consolidated, and comparable strategies are distilled. Potential regional differences that might arise from different infrastructures and/or differences in overall policy structure and policy making on local level are discussed. The approach considers the following questions:• What are the overall results of the networks in terms of efficiency gains and reduction of CO2-emissions?• What factors influence success and variation and how does satisfaction with the network process relate to network success?• Can measures be identified that every city wants to implement?• Can barriers be identified that are comparable between the cities? Do they benefit from the same solution strategies? Which framework conditions are necessary?• How can generalised guidelines be derived from the analysis?To answer these questions, the findings from surveys with participating municipalities will be combined with monitoring data. Interview material will be used to explain and enhance findings. We will also analyse in how far the structure of the municipality in a network does influence the network success. For the comparison, the network target and the categories defined in Task 4.1 are used.The results of the three tasks will be used for discussion within the project team and for the kick-off meetings of the five networks. The findings of transferability will be used for dissemination purposes as well as for the relevant guidelines in the online knowledge base (see task 2.3).

Summary report of dissemination events and results: conferences, workshop, training sessions, webinar, final event: recording, list of participants, main findings

A half a day final event will be held during the Energy Cities annual conference in April-May 2023. Energy Cities will also organise one webinar at the end of the project to disseminate best practices from the pilot networks in the project.

Final Publishable Report

Final Publishable Report to summarise project findings for the public.

List of participants from network operators training, presentations

Participants of the network meetings are:• The network operators (network manager and moderator)• 2-3 stakeholders from each municipality with decision making competences and involvement in energy/urban planning• An expert from the project team (see also task 2.1.3 and 3.1) or an external expert if necessary (attendance might be virtually).

2 success stories fact sheets for dissemination

From the supervision of the network process, two success stories are identified. For these two cases, fact sheets are developed that present the process, framework conditions, challenges and success factors, which will be used for dissemination as well as in the knowledge base serving the replication.

Report on the perception and evaluation of the network approach

As a result of task 4.5 a report on the perception and evaluation of the network approach will be drafted. Task 4.5 monitors the perception of the network approach by the participating municipalities during the project period and derives recommendations for a continuous improvement. The objective of the task is on the one hand to adapt the approaches and methods applied during the project duration in order to maximise the effectiveness of the networks. On the other hand, the findings will be used in the guidelines for implementing learning municipality for the replication of new networks after the project duration.The main input for the analysis during the project will be a committee of local partners, acting as network managers, providing the insights as well as the minutes of the network meetings (task 2.2). As 2-3 network meetings will take place during each year, it will be possible to monitor – based on the minutes – the perceptions of the municipalities of the networks during the project lifetime. Thus, main questions of the analysis are:• How is the network approach perceived?• How do the municipalities evaluate the starting phase of the networks?• How do the municipalities perceive the possibility of a peer-to-peer exchange?• How do they perceive the effect of the networks on measure implementation?• How do they evaluate the organisation of the networks (e.g. network meetings etc.)?

Deliverables

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