The TALA-IMPACT project (Transition Action for Local Authorities: IMPACT on Heating & Cooling) was launched with its first consortium meeting in Zagreb from 16 to 18 September. Hosted by project coordinator REGEA (North-West Croatia Regional Energy and Climate Agency), the event brought together partners across Central and Southeastern Europe to initiate structured urban thermal energy planning.
Heating and Cooling (H&C) account for more than half of Europe’s total final energy consumption, yet structured planning in this sector remains underdeveloped across the region. The TALA project addresses this by empowering local authorities with data-driven frameworks to turn high-level EU climate targets into actionable municipal infrastructure plans and investments.
Target capitals: diverse energy profiles
The project works across five capital cities representing diverse energy profiles and infrastructures:
- Bucharest, Romania: Operates one of the largest district heating systems in the EU, supplying approximately 570,000 households.
- Budapest, Hungary: Manages the country’s largest district heating network, serving around 250,000 dwellings.
- Zagreb, Croatia: Characterised by high natural gas reliance, with roughly 105,000 dwellings connected to district heating.
- Skopje, North Macedonia: Operates an urban district heating grid supplying around 64,000 dwellings.
- Podgorica, Montenegro: Decentralised system currently lacking a district heating network, relying on fossil-fuel-generated electricity.
From objectives to execution
During the meeting in Zagreb, the partners discussed translating TALA’s objectives into strategic H&C planning. The project’s primary focus is delivering officially endorsed H&C Plans across the five capitals. To ensure these plans have lasting institutional impact, the project will establish 5 municipal support units and set up a training framework to build local expertise across 200+ municipal staff. To align these H&C Plans with national policies (SECAPs and NECPs) and translate strategy into sustainable infrastructure, TALA aims to secure at least €30 million in pledged investments during the project, and €200 million within five years. Finally, the project will create a blueprint for regional upscaling, launch replication efforts in five additional cities, and release an open-access H&C Toolkit to empower 20+ European municipalities by 2030.
As the European network representing regional and local energy agencies, FEDARENE leads the communication, dissemination, replication, and policy alignment efforts.
We are looking forward to working closely with all project partners over the coming years, combining our expertise to drive the H&C sector across Central and Southeastern Europe.
