IEE proposal 2013 Local Energy Leadership Accessing Energy data for SEAP implementation.

Transcription

1 IEE proposal 2013 Local Energy Leadership Accessing Energy data for SEAP implementation. Objectives We propose the development of a knowledge exchange platform, based on a multi level governance approach. Such a platform has to make it possible to exchange data, methodologies, best practices etc. between different governance levels (national, regional, local, stakeholders) and is aimed at enhancing the cohesion of policy making and implementation at different scales of governance. As climate change will be one of the major future challenges in European countries & cities, we suggest to focus on climate & energy policy. Also, we learn from our expertise at national, regional and local level that the authorities involved in the preparation, implementation and evaluation of energy & climate policy, need more coherence between and within governance levels. In this project we will aim at consistency between baseline energy and CO 2 inventories, energy and climate action plans (objectives and measures proposed) and indicators to monitor progress. This way, a more streamlined and a more effective translation and monitoring of European objectives at all governance levels can be achieved. To maximize applicability the platform has to be developed in close cooperation with the public and private parties involved in the process of preparing, implementing and evaluating policy such as administrator (e.g. energy agencies, environmental departments), representatives (e.g. federations that represent communities,) and energy suppliers. Flanders, will be used as cases where such a multi level approach can be developed and implemented. The encountered problems and the success stories in the 3 cases, can help develop a good practice model that can be transferred to other regions. Outline Cases Belgium Flanders Proposed tasks Task 1 - Analyse the gap between local and regional level Task2 - Fill the gap Close link to practice Task 3 - Develop a generic, transferable system for enhancing collaboration and coherence between local and regional policies and measures. Task 4 - Dissemination of results Task 5 - Coordination 1

2 Cases Belgium - Flanders Belgium is Europe s most urbanized nation. Brussels, the capital of Belgium, has a population of over a million. Other major cities are Antwerp (472,000 inhabitants), Ghent (240,000 inhabitants), Charleroi (200,000 inhabitants) and Liège (190,000 inhabitants). Belgium's federal structure influences the way urban policy is structured. Belgium has a political and administrative structure based on the constitutional recognition of three Communities (Dutch-speaking, French-speaking and German-speaking) and three Regions (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels Capital), to which the federal state has devolved wide ranging powers. As the regions have authority over the most environmental and energy related issues, national energy efficiency actions plans, renewable energy action plans, greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans are first established at a regional level, before integrating them on the Belgian level. Local authorities are more and more taking (voluntary) actions in translating European objectives on energy efficiency, production and/or use of renewable energy sources and CO 2 mitigation at urban policy level. Some of these actions are directly related to European initiatives such as the Covenant of Mayors or the Green Capital Ward. In Belgium, 37 cities or communities have signed the Covenant of Mayors, demonstrating their willingness to face the challenges and take responsibilities. After signing the Covenant of mayors, local communities have to been making Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs), that include an overall vision for 2020, a baseline inventory and concrete actions and measures. From our experience in Flanders, we see that cities and communities have sometimes trouble in gathering information for the baseline inventory, also to determine what types of actions and measures are possible and what can be their impact, and how the monitoring of progress can be organized. The regional level has been doing these things for some time at regional level, and the cities can benefit from that experience. Moreover, this way cities can align their measures with European or regional objectives. On the other hand, the regional level can learn from the local level when they develop and set up new measures and actions, that could be implemented in other cities or communities throughout the region and can support the regional goals in enhancing energy efficiency, introduce more renewable energy and mitigating climate change. The importance of this interaction between both levels will grow, because of the more stringent goals which will asks for more targeted policy. Also, in the proposal for the revision of the energy service directive (2006/32/EC), local data become more important (local heat demand), and the regional authority could benefit from better locally monitored data. We would like to set up a system where regional data and methodologies can be made available at the local level and vice versa. This platform will include energy data, information on measures and methodology to estimate impacts of measures, and methods (indicators) to monitor the progress made. The partners that need to be involved in Belgium/Flanders include: grid managers (Infrax, Eandis), VVSG (Flemish organisation of cities and municipalities), VEA (Flemish energy agency), LNE, VREG, Cities themselves, statistical office (Study Office of the Flemish Government? NIS? ). Other countries Having an IT partner in the consortium can have an added value. This IT partner can develop the software for all countries/cities, starting from/inspired on existing tools. Ideas? 2

3 Statistical offices are also mentioned clearly in the call! Include different statistical offices in the proposal? Proposed tasks Task 1: Analyse the gap between local and regional level We will start mapping for each case current data, methodologies and processes used by local and regional authorities for enhancing energy efficiency, renewable energy and mitigating climate change. The following policy supporting aspects will be analyzed: - Collection of data & statistics; - Definition and impact analysis of possible actions and measures; - monitoring of progress made The analysis will focus on information or processes that are missing or difficult to collect at a certain level, but are available at another level. Also success stories where information is exchanged between regional and local level will be part of the analysis. This way we can detect and define information & process gaps between local and regional authorities for each case. Data & Statistics Impact of Actions & Measures Monitoring Policy After the analysis per case, the cases will be compared to see if the same problems or successes occur. This way, the different cases can learn from each other and we can detect for which of the following aspects a case experiences the most challenging gaps: - Does this case misses an exchange platform for data & statistics? - Does the case experiences difficulties in sharing information on methodologies? - Does the case lacks a good communication flow (who can deliver what information?)? Possible data sources: At regional level this can include the analysis of the required data and the process to develop the NEEAP s, NREAP s, Regional Climate Plans, energy statistics, greenhouse gas Inventories,... At local level this will be mainly focussed on the process and data of developing the SEAP s. Task2: Fill the gap Close link to practice In the second task, we try to fill the gap detected per case by setting up an information and knowledge platform, in agreement with the stakeholders (grid managers, statistical offices, energy agencies,...) of each case. This platform will deal with the following, policy supporting aspects: Benchmark the urban energy system starting from regional Energy balances completed with local energy statistics and set up a system for exchanging information 3

4 Simulating and monitoring the impact of local measures in context of the regional and the European policy framework. The simulation as well as the monitoring tool are based on measurable KPI s related to emissions, energy efficiency, renewables etc. Translation of local measures and indicators to a regional overview to detect regional challenges and possibilities. Data & Statistics Process Platform EXCHANGE Method ologies Per case a platform will be set up, in close agreement with the local and regional stakeholders so there will be a strong link to practice. The platform will be in line with the most challenging gaps of each case (data, methodology or communication). Good practices of other cases will be taken into account. Task 3: Develop a generic, transferable system for enhancing collaboration and coherence between local and regional policies and measures. To support coherent sustainable energy roadmaps and action plans at local as well as at regional level, we suggest we take the lessons learnt from the case studies to develop generic methodologies & tools to assist cities, regional authorities and other stakeholders in learning from each other, detecting bottlenecks and challenges from a birds perspective and coherent developing effective energy and climate policies. The methodology or toolkit can include: - Guidance for an efficient analysis of the needs and processes at the different levels - Guidance to possible solutions of common challenges - Examples of system set-ups in the different cases - Generic description of different levels of collaboration systems between regional and local governments: from a low level to higher level of collaboration and what it can involve -... Having a transferable system is considered as very important by IEE. Therefore, we have to elaborate (How can we guarantee that other cities can use this too?...) and stress this part more. Task 4: Dissemination of results 4

5 Not only dissemination of results, but translation of output platforms in action plans for different cities + investments plans/policy measures Implementation of SEAPs and monitoring of SEAP s! Task 5: Coordination 5