What can we learn from ten pilot projects across Europe that worked to make the Green Deal more inclusive and just? A new report reflects on their achievements, challenges, and cross-cutting insights.
This article links to ACCTING´s series focusing on (1) successes, (2) challenges, and with more content below on (3) lessons learnt from ACCTING’s pilot projects.
Over the past three years, ACCTING has worked with research contributions on making the European Green Deal more inclusive. in addition it has also supported ten pilot projects across Europe. These pilots were implemented in highly diverse settings, ranging from fire resilience planning in rural Zagori to cycling advocacy in urban Palermo, and worked with a wide spectrum of communities, from Roma micro-entrepreneurs to disadvantaged youth.
Despite their differences, the pilots have as well shared insights that we like to present as good as possible. One key message: community-based, inclusive action can drive meaningful change, but only when it is supported by flexible structures, long-term investment, and an openness to co-creation
Key lessons include:
- Resilience needs dialogue
Pilots show the importance of community-rooted, adaptive responses to environmental challenges. However, many public authorities still operate with top-down approaches, making sustained engagement difficult. Dialogue and flexibility are essential.
- Municipal support has different shapes
Support can range from adopting pilot outcomes (as seen in wildfire resilience planning) to enabling actions, like building bike lanes that complement CSO efforts (Kamëz). Collaboration with municipalities proved crucial to scaling impact.
- The value of educational actors
Education played a major enabling role—both in reaching less engaged groups and in embedding systemic change. In projects like School goes green and Food4Schools, schools became a testing ground for future policy. Pilots also showed how working with universities helped to increase legitimacy and buy-in.
- Informality and flexibility matter
Several pilots worked with informal groups or marginalised communities that had limited capacity. Formalisation—though often necessary for sustainability—sometimes provoked resistance. Framework organisations and local mentors helped bridge this gap.
- Urban–rural divides persist
Rural projects faced greater difficulty accessing institutional support. For example, community gardening was more easily supported in urban Prague than in rural settings, pointing to systemic access issues that need addressing.
- Behavioural change is structural
The pilots made it clear: individual behaviour is shaped by broader systems. Without changing structural conditions—like infrastructure, policy frameworks, and cultural norms—behavioural interventions will remain limited. A multi-dimensional approach is needed: combining awareness, capacity-building, infrastructure, and social dynamics.
- Multipliers and local ownership
Engaging past participants as future coordinators helped ensure continuity and trust. In School goes green, for instance, a former volunteer now helps run the programme, acting as a relatable role model for new participants.
- Timing matters
The success of a pilot doesn’t rely only on quality, but also timing. InclusivECs struggled with uptake simply because the topic was still too new in its national context. Capacity-building sometimes needs to come before celebration.
The report also points to two critical bottlenecks, challenges:
Unstable funding for CSOs, with competition and “projectism” limiting long-term engagement
Administrative barriers, including inflexible top-down procedures and unclear collaboration processes with authorities
ACCTING’s pilots show that inclusive, collective action is generally highly effective. But it needs fitting support structures, sustained funding in a social fabir, and a shift in how we value community based knowledge and resilience.
Read the full report below.
