It takes an orchestra to play a climate tune – a prototype from Denmark

“It’s quite different from how I would normally go about climate. A new perspective for me is the connection to citizens, local communities and partnerships. The possibility I see to gather people with a common interest in addressing these issues and simply discuss with them makes me much more optimistic! Meeting people where they are, accepting what they have done until now, and starting to make change is the way forward.”

Feedback from the course on climate planning that Samsø Energy Academy delivers to the municipalities of the Central Denmark Region is encouraging. The course aims to create, in the administrations’ mindsets, an opening for change that can activate their climate plans in practice.

Municipal employees in Denmark are confronted with a new challenge that has landed on their desks as an emergency: to carry out climate plans that deliver on the national climate goals. To do so, they must approach climate from different angles, navigate complex emission accounts that include agriculture and land use, bring society on board, and support politicians in informed decision-making. This basically calls for a rethinking of their own roles in this new uncharted landscape.

If the climate plan is the tune, how can we put an orchestra together?

Funded by the European Union through DG REFORM’s Technical Support Instrument (TSI), the course builds on the expertise of the island of Samsø, Denmark in transforming climate policy into implementation in practice. It aims to strengthen local capacity and build new technical competences and social skills within Central Denmark Region to enable municipal administrations to translate the national climate ambition into a local narrative for climate action that speaks to their communities, stakeholders, and citizens.

Through an innovative learning process with workshops, interviews, group exercises, social innovation and local public meetings, which signals ‘be prepared to be surprised’ Samsø Energy Academy attempts to introduce to municipal climate coordinators a new thinking. Recognising the high EU added value, the European Commission will activate the Technical Assistance Information & Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) towards the end of 2023 to invite public authorities and stakeholders from EU Member-States in a knowledge transfer process from Denmark. The aim is to share good practices of citizen driven green transition, social innovation, innovative engagement processes and local ownership models in view of the continent’s climate neutrality pledge.

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This best practice is issued from our publication “Sustainable Regions in Action 2023”. Find out more by clicking here to discover many more best practices from FEDARENE members as well as an overview of our activities.