Empowering local and regional authorities to design clean ENergy TRAnsition plans through Capacity and Knowledge building actions

Introduction

As recognized by recent EU frameworks, local and regional authorities have a key role in the implementation of energy and climate targets to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050. However, local policymakers, especially in rural communities, often do not have adequate knowledge and technical capacity to undertake socially just energy planning processes.

Project Overview

ENTRACK proposal stems from this urgent need, addressing knowledge and capacity gaps of local authorities and supporting them in co-designing social energy plans that respond to the real energy needs of regional and local stakeholders, including vulnerable citizens, and that are also in compliance with the European and national energy policy frameworks.

Methodology

Through the employment of participatory approaches, ENTRACK will support Mediterranean rural municipalities in co-designing feasible, ambitious, and just energy plans. The methodologies include:

• Multi-actor perspective analysis
• Empowerment evaluation
• Participatory ethnography

Additionally, a co-designing, bottom-up approach will be delineated, starting from local actors and integrating energy and social policies in the regional and sub-regional frameworks.

Implementation

ENTRACK will build and pilot methodologies and capacity-building processes in 8 selected rural municipalities in 4 Mediterranean countries:

1. 2 in Greece (Region of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace)
2. 2 in Italy (Region of Campania)
3. 2 in Portugal (Region of Alto Alentejo)
4. 2 in Spain (Region of Catalunya-Pirineus)

Goals

The final goal of the project is threefold:

1. To support the co-design of energy plans in the 8 piloting municipalities.
2. To deliver social energy co-designing action-based training to build the capacity of policy actors.
3. To deliver a ready-to-use scalable methodology on how to co-design policies with citizens in the rural Mediterranean area.