The European Public Local Authorities‘ Network for driving the Energy Transition (ePLANET) project has revealed budget constraints and lack of financial and technical expertise as the main obstacles local authorities in Europe face in designing their energy transition policies.
In an assessment conducted in 2022 and 2023, 88% of participating municipalities cited the “limited financial resources” as an obstacle for the design and implementation of energy transition plans. Similarly, three-quarters of these communities lack the financial and technical expertise to implement such actions, including unawareness about investment funds for energy transition and lack of knowledge on data collection and decision-making protocols.
The ePLANET project, led by CIMNE’s Building, Energy and Environment (BEE) group, is a three-year European effort to improve coordination between local and regional authorities to foster a seamless energy transition. Acting at a local level, ePLANET seeks to optimize the decision-making process, coherence, and consistency in the implementation of green energy in Europe.
The data gathered from this assessment will serve as a key indicator for the joint design of ePLANET's tailored capacity building strategies and activities in each of the participating regions, Zlín (Czech Republic), Crete (Greece) and Girona (Catalonia, Spain). The ultimate goal is to empower municipalities for energy planning to facilitate the adoption of coordinated energy transition actions in Europe.
ePLANET is a European Union-supported programme and has received funding from EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101032450.
