Author: Tena MaruÅ”evac (REGEA), Tomislav Novosel (REGEA), Josipa ArapoviÄ (REGEA), Beatriz MartĆnez (UPM)
Does it exist an effective organizational model to boost energy efficiency in municipalities?
PentaHelix aimed 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.
To achieve this, 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 (house owners, car owners, commuters etc).
Representatives of the PentaHelix pillars constituted 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 was 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 for SECAP development that could be used by multiple public authorities in joint planning and implementation. This enabled the integration of different administrative levels and geographical planning areas as well as enhances the cost efficiency in the entire planning and implementation process based on economy of scale and closer cooperation and exchange
An innovative approach
The PentaHelix project established an innovative method of co-creative approaches in climate and energy planning. The task force method provides a new multilevel and multi-stakeholder approach for strategic energy and climate action plan (SECAP) development. The method goes beyond the current practice of public hearing and the passive role of stakeholder involvement in climate and energy planning. It combats the lack of multi-stakeholder connection. Good dialogue among different types of actors helps ensure the continued reliability of the emission and society data that SECAPs are based on.
The objective of a task force was to structure the involvement process and ensure that all elements of society are involved. This task force would include actors from all five pillars (public authorities, industry, academia, NGOs, and citizens), of the PentaHelix, preferably as representative of the local and regional society as possible.
In the work of the task-force group, a strong focus was set on the implementation of the best practices in climate communication. The taskforce method has been tested in several European countries and has been shown to be a powerful tool for increased implementation, due to better-anchored processes
Main positive lessons
- When the targets and measures are Influenced by and supported by a wide range of stakeholders in the municipality, the SECAPS are better anchored and have a higher probability of being Implemented.
- When the SECAPs are based on quality-controlled data and expert knowledge from the local and regional stakeholders that will take part in implementing the measures, they are ambitious and realistic.
- Getting different stakeholders together with each other and with the regional and local authorities may mitigate potential conflicts and improve cooperation, thereby increasing the implementation rate of the SECAP.
Main barriers found
- It was not always easy to gather all the important stakeholders for the planning of targets and measures.
- Lack of political willLack of sufficient human resources (from the local administration).
Potential for replication and scale up:
The development and implementation of a SECAP with the PentaHelix method can be a beneficial process to promote cooperation within a municipality or region. Providing the necessary support and motivation to get all types of actors engaged in climate actions is not easy, but after testing the PentaHelix method it has become clear that this can be one way to provide the necessary structure to develop an engaging and well-organized SECAP development and implementation process.
By testing it in different socio-economic, political, cultural and geographical contexts the method has been proven adaptable to different geographic and cultural settings all throughout Europe.
Photos extracted from Unsplash and official documents from the project