Events

Webinar

Community Ownership and Participation for Effective Mitigation & Adaptation Planning

Covenant of Mayors Webinar (online)

24 November 2022, 09:30 - 11:00
- Online

Climate change affects all. Measures to tackle it must be therefore inclusive of the needs and expectations of citizens. Through proper engagement strategies, local authorities can empower their citizens to jointly own and participate in climate & energy measures. The absence, or wrong set-up of community engagement and participation, however, can directly result in less effective mitigation and adaptation measures.

Local authorities have much to gain from tapping into the potential offered by the local community. On the mitigation side, an increasing number of energy communities and collective energy actions (e.g. collective self-consumption / energy sharing schemes and crowdfunding campaigns) are making it financially and socially attractive for citizens to take ownership of the local energy transition.

At the same time, there exists an increasing need for distributed risk governance and citizen engagement in the adaptation to climate change. Examples from cities around Europe include participatory budgeting for ecological transformations, participatory processes to ensure ownership by local residents of nature-based solutions (NBS) and the climate-proofing of (social) housing landscapes.

The integration of both mitigation & adaptation measures is a cornerstone Sustainable Energy & Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) which CoM signatories develop. Research into the diversity of citizen’s role in climate mitigation & adaptation planning suggests strong overlaps between the two streams and common drivers and barriers can be identified.

Join the webinar to discuss:

  • Why community participation is critical across both mitigation and adaptation streams
  • What it means to have “ownership” over local climate change measures
  • What kind of forms of citizen participation and ownership exist and how it is solidified in long-term climate & energy planning
  • Under what conditions public participation and community ownership of local climate & energy measures can thrive

 

 

  • ICLEI Europe

 

 

  • European Commission and Covenant of Mayors-Europe Office

 

 

  • DECIDE