How Mannheim is harnessing social innovation to master the energy transition
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 and is looking into whether this goal can be achieved even sooner. The City of Mannheim is taking on this task, for example, with its Climate Action Plan 2030, climate impact adaptation measures and the provision of funding in cooperation with the Climate Action Agency. Together, they offer consultation, subsidies and a newly created City Lab where residents can get involved in the decision-making process.
Cork City’s many transitions
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, showing the importance of including the interests of workers and residents affected by these industries in climate action plans.
The state of European municipal energy transition: an overview of current trends
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. It highlights the key role of municipal actors in the energy transition, although progress takes a wide range of forms including new forms of public ownership, utilising supra-national funding opportunities and increasing citizen participation.
Renewables Generation: Key findings from mPOWER Exchange
In 2019-20 4 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. Sessions with experts provided information on future generation and storage innovations and the possibilities for creating energy communities.
Local Energy Communities: Key findings from mPOWER Exchange
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? Following that we explored how municipalities can enable the development of energy communities and what forms partnerships can take. In both groups this included a special exploration into how local authorities might be able to initiate an energy community for the cities where these would be the first.
Energy Efficiency: Key findings from mPOWER Exchange
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. Here are our group’s findings.
How a rural Dutch town is working towards sustainability
The municipality of Horst aan de Maas is situated in south-eastern Netherlands, close to the German border. 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’s journey to net zero 2020-38
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.
The Drechtsteden: moving away from fossil gas and involving residents in the process
The Drechtsteden, with just short of 300,000 residents, is a small region of seven cooperating municipalities. In order to reduce households’ dependence on fossil gas, several municipalities have begun to construct heat networks using waste incineration, geothermal and aquathermal energy.
“Cuando algo es bueno, llévalo a tu propio ayuntamiento”.
El 17 y 18 de septiembre de 2020, 12 ciudades españolas se reunieron para la primera edición de los Eventos Regionales mPower. El encuentro tenía como pregunta clave, cómo las ciudades pueden asumir un liderazgo más ambicioso en una transición energética democrática y justa. El evento, que estuvo marcado por experiencias compartidas de transición energética de seis de las ciudades participantes, supuso el inicio de un diálogo sobre cómo llevar la soberanía energética a una ciudad y su ciudadanía. ¿Qué se puede aprender cada ciudad, en el ámbito de la eficiencia energética en los edificios, la expansión de las energías renovables de propiedad pública y la participación ciudadana? En esta entrada compartimos algunas de las principales ideas del evento.