Energy systems and climate action cannot be left to the market. It's urgent to transition to energy democracies that are optimal for people and planet. How can public ownership, community control and participatory governance ensure that justice is served? And which forms of collective action will help us get there?
Thanks to the support of all the local authorities that have participated and are participating in mPower, we have been able to carry out the research "Urban Energy Transitions in Europe, towards Low-Socio-Environmental Impact Cities". The shared vision on the need for an energy transition towards a renewable, fair and democratic model is very necessary at this time, and the article makes it clear, for example, that the staff dedicated to the energy transition within the municipalities is vital for its achievement.
Characterised by its proximity to two rivers, the Rhine and the Neckar, as well as its heavy industry, the City of Mannheim in south-western Germany faces an urgent climate challenge. The city has committed to becoming climate neutral by 2050.
The small Irish city of Cork has committed to reducing its CO2 emissions by 40% by 2030, compared to the baseline of 2016, and aims for net-zero emissions by 2050. In the diverse business centre, some of the world’s largest tech companies meet a significant agricultural industry producing meat and dairy.
This report explores the state of energy transition within Europe’s municipalities, drawing on existing academic and non-academic literature, and primary data collection carried out as part of the mPOWER project.
Four cities explored the possibilities for large scale renewables generation. Visits to Frankfurt and Barcelona accelerated learning on how to: create a step change in solar generation uptake in the private sector, deliver large scale solar projects on city owned land and roofs and tackle energy poverty.
Throughout 2019 two mPower Exchange peer groups explored the topic of local energy communities, starting simply from the questions: What exactly are energy communities? And what added value might they bring to the local energy transition and the work being done by public authorities?
In 2019, four cities completed a joint research and education project to identify possible activities that municipalities can do within the field of domestic retrofit, to save carbon, improve comfort, health, citizen participation, community resilience and the local economy.
The municipality of Horst aan de Maas is situated in south-eastern Netherlands. In 2020 it adopted a new local sustainability policy with four main goals: Horst aan de Maas aims to be a fully climate neutral, climate proof, circular and nature-friendly town by 2050.
Rochdale is one of the 10 boroughs of the Greater Manchester city region. It is located to the north east of the region and has a population of approximately 218,000. It was one of the first industrial towns in the nineteenth century and was famous for textile manufacturing.
mPOWER is run by a consortium of Glasgow University (UK), Platform (UK), Energy Cities (EU-wide), IPE (Croatia), Transnational Institute (Netherlands), University of the Basque Country, and Carbon Coop (UK).
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 785171. This project follows the EU data protection & security law, which is enforceable since 25 May 2018.
