Title
Brief description
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 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 enhances the cost efficiency in the entire planning and implementation process based on economy of scale and closer cooperation and exchange.
Keywords
PentaHelix, SECAP, stakeholders, EU climate and energy goals and policies
City/Country
Time period
From March 2019 to September 2021
Lever(s)
Methodologies
Regional PentaHelix Task forces were established, involving key stakeholder and target groups. These task forces broadened the scope and impact of the SECAPs by bringing in valuable insights and identifying potential measures, system solutions, and a better understanding of drivers and barriers for a more sustainable society and economy in each specific region.
World Region
Scale(s) of the case analysed
Target audience and dimension
Domain(s) of application
Context addressed
Solution applied
Challenge addressed/ Problem-led approach
Barriers addressed
Main Practices
Impact
Co benefits
Engagement Journey
Impact to climate neutrality
With PentaHelix’s goal 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) it has a direct relation to Collaboration Action Ability, Political Commitment & Problem Ownership, Climate narrative and communication. The implementation of a co-creation approach and improved climate communication results in a better anchored SECAP that has a higher probability of being implemented, since both targets and measures are influenced by and supported by a wide range of stakeholders in the municipality. Fostering dialogue between different stakeholders may mitigate potential conflicts and improve cooperation, thereby increasing the implementation rate of the SECAP.
Context & Public policy of reference
By empowering local and regional authorities to develop and implement sustainable energy and climate adaptation plans, PentaHelix directly influenced the key targets that municipalities must set set and achieve, in terms of greenhouse emission savings and climate resilience, envisaged by the European Green Deal.
Innovative approach(es) addressed
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 is to structure the involvement process and ensure that all elements of society are involved. This task force should 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 is 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.
Initiator
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture
Stakeholder networks and organisational model
Stakeholder | Role [accountable, consulted, informed] |
Public authorities | 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. |
Industry | Bringing in valuable insights and identification of potential measures and system solutions. |
Academia | 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. |
NGOs | 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. |
Citizens | Bringing in valuable insights and identification of potential measures for a more sustainable society as a whole. |
Democratic Purpose
Participant Recruitment
nteraction between participants
Resources
Key enablers
Political: political commitment of the highest level of municipalities that were pilots for PentaHelix's methodology
Economic: SECAP's developed in the scope of the project, without the need for additional budget
Social: Public authorities, industry, Academia, NGOs and Citizens were involved SECAP development.
Technical: Online technical capacities to create an online platform and manage it
Key inhibiting factors
Political: Scalability depends on political will, and not all local authorities have the will to engage stakeholders for SECAP creation
Economic: Lack of funding support for the SECAP development
Social: Allocation of sufficient human resources and lack of support of the stakeholders
Legal: Lack of strong regulatory framework
Drawbacks/pros/cons of the solutions (after implementation)
The municipality and stakeholders are more aware of the current situation regarding climate emissions, as well as risks and vulnerabilities. More importantly, they become more knowledgeable about mitigation and adaptation action strategies and the available funding opportunities (funds, grants, credits).
Scalability
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.
Key lessons
Main positive lessons/opportunities identified
- 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 failures/barriers identified
- It was not always easy to gather all the stakeholders Important for the planning of targets and measures.
- Lack of political will.
- Lack of sufficient human resources (from the local administration).
Indicators
Number of SECAP's developed: 5
Number of stakeholders engaged: 63
Energy Savings [MWh/year]: 4.197.254
t/CO2 savings: 950.211
Renewable energy produced [MWh/year]: 80.054
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