There is an urgent need to develop many more sustainable energy communities (SEC) across Europe, in support of reaching national and European greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets – 20% by 2020 (potentially increasing to 30% by 2020) and achieving other EU priorities.
This 3-year, high-impact European capacity building project addressed these gaps at the local level in 15 countries, motivating and directly enabling many LGs to effectively respond to the above mentioned municipal and community-wide “climate and energy challenges”. A particular focus was on supporting small and medium-sized communities, as a vast number in Europe faced inherent capability challenges (limited funds and staff size). Once their capacity had improved – where possible in their own language – LGs were encouraged to join the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) initiative, and were then also able to respond to its rigorous reporting and delivery requirements.
