Periodic Reporting for period 2 - LOCALISED (Localised decarbonisation pathways for citizens, local administrations and businesses to inform for mitigation and adaptation action)
Période du rapport: 2023-04-01 au 2024-09-30
The LOCALISED project addresses the need to have regional data and knowledge as effective support for municipalities and their citizens, as well as businesses in speeding-up net-zero efforts and climate adaptation planning. The few available European platforms providing information on energy transition to net-zero in Europe have so far limited their scope and results to the national level. As a consequence, they are not designed to stimulate decarbonisation actions at the most relevant decision scale. Accordingly, the LOCALISED project aims at deriving regional data on energy and climate impacts that can feed into innovative tools informing municipalities and their citizens as well as businesses on crucial knowledge for decarbonisation and adaptation. The knowledge expected is varied, namely: supporting cities with the filling of mandatory Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs); provide viable combinations of adaptation/mitigation measures; screening of business vulnerability and technological solutions; to the integration of a strong social perspective in the tools to be developed; support municipalities with citizen’s engagement.
In the three years of activity, the consortium made a lot of progress, but also faced some hurdles. We are optimistic to overcome hurdles in the next months successfully and highlight progress made especially in the last reporting period in the following short overview:
(1) A methodology for downscaling values to NUTS3/LAU was developed. The methodology utilises public data sources, including Corine Land Cover, Hotmaps, and Eurostat, to derive spatial proxies and applies machine learning techniques for data disaggregation. Operationally, a Python-based workflow around a Postgres-database was implemented and an API developed in order to facilitate data access; with this LOCALISED data sharing platform (DSP) is public.
(2) The ETHOS.MIDAS model was developed and utilised in the first policy brief. This model is based on the measure database established during the first reporting period, which has since been published. A validation framework is currently being developed to address the challenge of determining the feasibility of thousands of individual decarbonisation plans.
(3) The list of Sustainable Oriented Indicators (SOIs) was refined, which is the basis for providing the information required to semi-automatically report the SECAP instruments and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for any NUTS3 or Local Administrative Units (LAU) location in Europe.
(4) The first draft of the Citizen Engager (CE) was developed based on in-depth evaluation of a participatory process in Vienna, previous projects and engagement activities of the involved partners, as well as further desktop research. Extensive collaboration took place with the city partners in the consortium, who organised and conducted case studies to test the CE through engagement actions in different countries for evaluation.
(5) A consistent methodology was drawn, allowing to identify vulnerable groups exposed to energy poverty due to changes in their lifestyles and integrating regional exposure and social vulnerability components.
(6) A more deep-in-detail analysis of business models on adaptation to climate change has been performed, mainly for key sectors (transport, agriculture, and construction). As a result, a tool has been developed, the Sustainable Business Model Canvas, introducing a Sustainable Canvas including decarbonisation and adaptation measures and the link with the SDGs compliance at a business level.
(7) Phase 2 of the stakeholder interaction and co-creation process was kicked off by an additional round of eight interviews with stakeholders from the “wise” group aiming to discuss more overarching questions concerning the design and implementation of the CAST. Also, three co-design workshops with stakeholders from the “user” group have taken place.
(8) The alpha version of the Net-Zero Business Consultant (NZBC) has been developed, and some feedback has already been collected from the internal presentation and discussion among the project partners.
(9) The alpha version of the Climate Adaptation Strategiser (CAST) has been developed and exposed to feedback from experts and potential users in a workshop at the EURESFO conference in Valencia in spring 2024. For this purpose, entire 'option spaces' were pre-calculated for each NUTS3 region.
(10) Communication to different target groups was realised by videos on the topic of decarbonisation planning aimed at local authorities. In addition, first scientific publications were published, and others were submitted for review. In terms of transfer and sustainability of results, LOCALISED participated in the Horizon Booster Service for the CAST.
(1) A methodology for downscaling values to NUTS3/LAU was developed. The methodology utilises public data sources, including Corine Land Cover, Hotmaps, and Eurostat, to derive spatial proxies and applies machine learning techniques for data disaggregation. Operationally, a Python-based workflow around a Postgres-database was implemented and an API developed in order to facilitate data access; with this LOCALISED data sharing platform (DSP) is public.
(2) The ETHOS.MIDAS model was developed and utilised in the first policy brief. This model is based on the measure database established during the first reporting period, which has since been published. A validation framework is currently being developed to address the challenge of determining the feasibility of thousands of individual decarbonisation plans.
(3) The list of Sustainable Oriented Indicators (SOIs) was refined, which is the basis for providing the information required to semi-automatically report the SECAP instruments and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for any NUTS3 or Local Administrative Units (LAU) location in Europe.
(4) The first draft of the Citizen Engager (CE) was developed based on in-depth evaluation of a participatory process in Vienna, previous projects and engagement activities of the involved partners, as well as further desktop research. Extensive collaboration took place with the city partners in the consortium, who organised and conducted case studies to test the CE through engagement actions in different countries for evaluation.
(5) A consistent methodology was drawn, allowing to identify vulnerable groups exposed to energy poverty due to changes in their lifestyles and integrating regional exposure and social vulnerability components.
(6) A more deep-in-detail analysis of business models on adaptation to climate change has been performed, mainly for key sectors (transport, agriculture, and construction). As a result, a tool has been developed, the Sustainable Business Model Canvas, introducing a Sustainable Canvas including decarbonisation and adaptation measures and the link with the SDGs compliance at a business level.
(7) Phase 2 of the stakeholder interaction and co-creation process was kicked off by an additional round of eight interviews with stakeholders from the “wise” group aiming to discuss more overarching questions concerning the design and implementation of the CAST. Also, three co-design workshops with stakeholders from the “user” group have taken place.
(8) The alpha version of the Net-Zero Business Consultant (NZBC) has been developed, and some feedback has already been collected from the internal presentation and discussion among the project partners.
(9) The alpha version of the Climate Adaptation Strategiser (CAST) has been developed and exposed to feedback from experts and potential users in a workshop at the EURESFO conference in Valencia in spring 2024. For this purpose, entire 'option spaces' were pre-calculated for each NUTS3 region.
(10) Communication to different target groups was realised by videos on the topic of decarbonisation planning aimed at local authorities. In addition, first scientific publications were published, and others were submitted for review. In terms of transfer and sustainability of results, LOCALISED participated in the Horizon Booster Service for the CAST.
The LOCALISED project made a number of promising advances upon which successful scientific insights and operational tools can be built upon. Impact assessments were also made and first results can be seen, but the main task for the last project phase is dissemination and it is still to come. The following results are currently progressing:
(I) The ETHOS.MIDAS model combines measures across sectors. Data for both adaptation and mitigation as well as integration of social aspects has been gathered, and an approach has been implemented. The validation framework currently under development is aimed at determining the feasibility of decarbonisation plans including the optimisation of both social and economic aspects.
(II) With a particular focus on Energy Poverty and vulnerable people an investigation has been conducted on how changes in lifestyles might produce energy poverty: the so-called heat-or-eat dilemma. To better understand the results presented in the report “Report on key approaches of low carbon lifestyle changes”, we delved into the interactions of a specific domain (food) and the energy domain. Through a detailed analysis of how food and energy systems interact on regions, lifestyles, socio-economic and demographic scales, an index to measure the regional risk of producing energy poverty to households through changes in either energy or food systems was created. The indicators for food and energy systems were reviewed, and data was further refined.
(III) The Renovation Wave initiative is supported by visualisation tools such as the Building Cards. This represents a comprehensive and visually engaging tool that showcases national and regional renovation programmes. They capture and harmonise key characteristics of the programmes and facilitate comparison across regions. A key graphical element is the assessment of whether the adoption of the programme leads to any structural change in the building sector, providing valuable insights into the long-term impact of the programmes. Furthermore, specific interventions within each programme are linked to the LOCALISED mitigation/adaptation database and relevant SDGs and SECAPs.
(IV) In order to connect SECAP and SDGS, work was done to develop a list of Sustainable Oriented Indicators (SOIs) and fill the gap in locally contextualising the SDGs. The list is the basis for providing the information required to report the SECAP instruments and the SDGs semi-automatically, maintaining strong common metrics in measuring performances in relation to the 2030 Agenda to compare the results of the effort performed by the municipalities.
(I) The ETHOS.MIDAS model combines measures across sectors. Data for both adaptation and mitigation as well as integration of social aspects has been gathered, and an approach has been implemented. The validation framework currently under development is aimed at determining the feasibility of decarbonisation plans including the optimisation of both social and economic aspects.
(II) With a particular focus on Energy Poverty and vulnerable people an investigation has been conducted on how changes in lifestyles might produce energy poverty: the so-called heat-or-eat dilemma. To better understand the results presented in the report “Report on key approaches of low carbon lifestyle changes”, we delved into the interactions of a specific domain (food) and the energy domain. Through a detailed analysis of how food and energy systems interact on regions, lifestyles, socio-economic and demographic scales, an index to measure the regional risk of producing energy poverty to households through changes in either energy or food systems was created. The indicators for food and energy systems were reviewed, and data was further refined.
(III) The Renovation Wave initiative is supported by visualisation tools such as the Building Cards. This represents a comprehensive and visually engaging tool that showcases national and regional renovation programmes. They capture and harmonise key characteristics of the programmes and facilitate comparison across regions. A key graphical element is the assessment of whether the adoption of the programme leads to any structural change in the building sector, providing valuable insights into the long-term impact of the programmes. Furthermore, specific interventions within each programme are linked to the LOCALISED mitigation/adaptation database and relevant SDGs and SECAPs.
(IV) In order to connect SECAP and SDGS, work was done to develop a list of Sustainable Oriented Indicators (SOIs) and fill the gap in locally contextualising the SDGs. The list is the basis for providing the information required to report the SECAP instruments and the SDGs semi-automatically, maintaining strong common metrics in measuring performances in relation to the 2030 Agenda to compare the results of the effort performed by the municipalities.