networking cities to achieve energy targets Achievements & lessons learnt through the

Transcription

1 networking cities to achieve energy targets Achievements & lessons learnt through the CASCADE project

2 Copyright 2014 EUROCITIES asbl, Brussels, Belgium. If you would like to cite any part of this publication, please make reference to its title and authoring organisation. Available from EUROCITIES asbl TABLE OF CONTENTS Author: EUROCITIES asbl Foreword 3 Introduction & Methods 4 activities & lessons learnt 6 Peer review visits 8 Mentoring visits 12 Work-shadowing visits 16 Study visits 20 Peer-advice visits 26 Spreading knowledge and experience 30 achievements 32 A network of cities 34 A network of people 36 Success stories from partner cities 38 Success stories from invited cities 42 Stories from peer-advice cities 46 Co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Union The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

3 FOREWORD Cities play a crucial role in delivering Europe s energy targets. By investing in renewable energy, constructing energy-efficient buildings, or promoting more sustainable modes of transport, cities are where the most significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions can be made and where energy efficiency can be substantially improved. Supporting knowledge sharing between cities and capacity building at the local level can accelerate the move towards a lowcarbon Europe. Cities are well aware of this and have been learning from each other for many years through networks like EUROCITIES. By discussing common challenges and ambitions and exchanging ideas and solutions, cities can build strong energy policies and achieve ambitious climate mitigation goals. CASCADE is one successful example of how experience sharing between cities can lead to concrete improvements in energy policies. Co-funded by the EU s Intelligent Energy Europe Programme from June 2011 to May 2014, this project ran an intensive European-wide peer-to-peer learning and networking activity programme. It brought together over 300 experts and decision makers from 76 cities and 19 European countries around the theme of local energy leadership. My own city, Warsaw, has also been an active partner in the project. Together we have tested several learning methodologies: peer review, mentoring, work shadowing, study visits and peer advice; each time cascading out to engage another group of cities. We ve seen how the experience of participating in the project itself has had an immediate impact on the work of the involved cities. CASCADE helped many cities to create new, more effective energy administration structures, improve the engagement of citizens and local stakeholders, explore innovative financial tools and launch new more ambitious energy strategies and projects. Some cities have benefited more than others, but we have all taken a step closer to meeting our energy goals. In our case, I know Warsaw drew a lot of inspiration from Malmö and Stockholm on the idea of creating low-carbon housing areas. We also learned from others on how new financial tools can support projects. Our publication pulls together the experience and knowledge we shared throughout the learning and networking activities organised by CASCADE. It outlines the main challenges, ideas and solutions we exchanged, and it describes the improvements and progress made in each of the 76 cities involved. It demonstrates that transnational knowledge sharing and networking activities can be a great springboard for cities to improve energy policies and reach ambitious energy goals. It also proves the great added value that EU funding can bring to support such activities. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz Mayor of Warsaw, president of EUROCITIES

4 4 Introduction & Methods Improving the implementation of local energy policies CASCADE was a networking and peer-topeer learning project that focused on local energy leadership. It supported cities in delivering the European Union 2020 targets for energy and climate change. Led by EUROCITIES, the network of major European cities, CASCADE helped 76 large- and medium-sized cities from 19 European countries to improve the implementation of their sustainable energy policies in three thematic areas: energy efficient buildings & districts, renewable energy resources & distributed energy generation, energy in urban transport. This was accomplished through an intensive European-wide networking and peer-to-peer learning programme that ran from June 2011 until May During, these three years CASCADE organised six peer-review visits, six mentoring visits, five work-shadowing visits, 11 study visits and 37 peer-advice visits. It also held 11 national technical seminars and participated in several other events. The CASCADE consortium comprised of EUROCITIES, Wuppertal Institute, Koucky& Partners and 19 European cities: Amaroussion, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Burgas, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gateshead, Genoa, Gijon, Malmo, Mannheim, Milan, Nantes, Stockholm, Sunderland, Tampere, Terrassa, Venice and Warsaw. Why peer-to-peer learning? Peer-to-peer learning is an excellent instrument for improving the implementation of cities climate mitigation and energy policies. It is based on the idea that people who work on similar issues and have similar roles and working backgrounds in their cities could share experiences and learn from each other. These people are usually called peers and could be city experts, decision makers or local stakeholders. Peers share a common understanding of and interest in implementing sustainable energy and climate mitigation projects and policies in their cities. In many ways they face similar challenges, need to find solutions to similar problems and look for corresponding solutions, projects and alliances in the same fields of action. Hence, sharing experiences and solutions with each other can help them to improve their projects, organisational structures and ways of thinking and working. mentoring work shadowing Find tailor made solutions See how things are done elsewhere Peer review Get an outsider s perspective Lost in implementation? Your peers can help you overcome challenges to reach your energy goals study visit Be inspired by successful projects LOCAL ENERGY STRATEGIES EUROPE 2020 TARGETS

5 5 The CASCADE networking and peer-to-peer learning methods CASCADE tested four networking and peer-to-peer learning methods: peer review, mentoring, work shadowing and study visit. Peer review Peers from different cities were brought together to jointly evaluate, against the CASCADE benchmark (a list of key energypolicy factors), the climate and energy policy performance of another city and gave recommendations for improvements. Peers not only assessed the performance of the host city, but also shared their experience and know-how while they brought back to their cities new knowledge and skills. CASCADE organised six peer-review visits. Work shadowing Work shadowing involved one to three people from one city spending a period of time with one or more people from another city all of whom worked in the same field or on similar projects. The aim was to facilitate an exchange of expertise by observing first-hand how things were done elsewhere, thus providing inspiration and new ideas for working methods. CASCADE organised five work-shadowing visits. Mentoring A city received advice by one or more other cities on specific project(s)/ initiative(s) during a visit. The visitors (mentors) and host (mentee) together built an understanding of the local situation and the local challenges. The mentors provided specific recommendations to the mentee and then explored together new ideas and solutions. The mentors also directly benefited from the visit by taking advantage of other mentors knowledge and experience. Study visit The study visit offered peers from several cities the opportunity to visit another city and see first-hand how that city had successfully implemented its energy and climate change policies, projects and/or initiatives. It also gave the host city an opportunity to showcase its projects, gain external insight and get recommendations for improvements. CASCADE organised 11 study visits. CASCADE organised six mentoring visits. It also organised 37 peer-advice visits, which were a simplified version of mentoring visits. Find more about the CASCADE benchmark and methods in the CASCADE toolkit available from the project s web-site:

6 7 In the CASCADE peer review method a group of people (experts, decision makers, stakeholders) from different cities is brought together to jointly evaluate, activities against the CASCADE benchmark, & the climate and energy policy performance of the host city. These people are lessons usually called peers or learnt equals, as they work similar issues in their cities administrations and they have similar working backgrounds. The peers group follows a structured and well-defined procedure for assessing the performance of the host city. It first has a thorough desk review of its selfassessment report and then visits the host city to seek further evidence. Once the evidence is put together, the peers

7 8 Peer-review visits Get an external in-depth appraisal of your work and gain valuable insights into how to improve it! Energy efficient buildings & districts Renewable energy & distribution of generated energy Energy in urban transport Tampere June 2012 Sunderland May 2012 Birmingham February 2012 Amsterdam April 2012 Nantes March 2012 Genoa 1-3 February 2012 Facts: Peers provided us with a very accurate analysis of our policies in a very short period of time and relevant and concrete pieces of advice. Anne Vicenzotti, Mobility Department, Nantes Metropole 6 visits 19 cities 78 technical experts 7 decision makers 59 local stakeholders

8 9 Birmingham: creating energyefficient homes Reviewers: Eindhoven, Mannheim, Milan, Tampere and Warsaw Tampere: transforming into an eco-city Reviewers: Birmingham, Eindhoven, Mannheim, Milan and Warsaw Amsterdam: the district heating vision Reviewers: Edinburgh, Gateshead, Genoa, Gijon and Venice Facilitators: Malmo, EUROCITIES, GOJA Consulting Birmingham aims to cut its CO 2 emissions by 60% of its 1990 levels by Its residential building sector causes 33% of the city s CO 2 emissions and plays a key role in achieving this target. The City Council owns approx. 50,000 housing units and has the power and the drive to make homes more energy-efficient. Birmingham asked for the support of CASCADE peers to further improve its Birmingham Energy Savers (BES) programme, which was the first cityprogramme launched in the UK under the national Green Deal Initiative in The peers assessed the work of the city and recommended the following improvements: Develop short-term action plans outlining how you are going to achieve your long-term goals. Develop an overall financing strategy on how to fund the actions included in your SEAP. Go for large-scale, long-term investments to significantly improve the energyefficiency of your building stock. Better integrate your energy goals in your day-to-day work. 9 visitors + 18 hosts + 4 facilitators Facilitators: Malmo, EUROCITIES Tampere s building sector is the city s greatest source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and the city therefore aims to move towards a more compact, green and low-carbon urban growth model. The city has been trying to create neighbourhoods that are sufficiently dense to host energy- and cost-efficient infrastructure (e.g. district heating grids, public transport networks) and to facilitate walking and cycling. Tampere asked for the support of CASCADE peers for two of its smart eco-city projects: the new development project Vuores ecocity and the Tammela energy-efficient refurbishment project. The peers assessed the work of the city and recommended the following improvements: Be more ambitious, you are doing very good work! Include short-term targets in your longterm strategy. An energy coordinator could coordinate your efforts towards the city s energy targets. Build a cross-departmental strategy to develop more energy-efficient retrofit projects. 8 visitors + 20 hosts + 3 facilitators Facilitators: Wuppertal Institute, EUROCITIES Amsterdam has set the ambitious goal of cutting its CO2 emissions by 40% by 2025 and by 75% by Making its heat supply greener and more efficient is at the core of its vision. The city aims to increase the share of renewables in its heat energy mix and further extend and upgrade its district heating & cooling system. Amsterdam asked for the support of CASCADE peers to evaluate and further improve its local district heating (DH) strategy. The peers assessed the work of the city and recommended the following improvements: Find alternative pricing models for DH. Decoupling from gas price could make it cheaper and thus more attractive. Connecting existing buildings to the DH network is the main challenge. Try to promote the connection to DH as part of energy-efficient retrofit works, and to initiate further R&D and demonstration projects. Rethink how to prioritise renewable energy sources for DH and start pilot projects. 9 visitors + 14 hosts + 3 facilitators

9 10 Genoa: renewable energy as the key driver of sustainability Reviewers: Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Gateshead, Gijon and Venice Facilitators: Wuppertal Institute, EUROCITIES, Goja Consulting Genoa is one of the first cities in Europe to submit a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) in the Covenant of Mayors. The city aims to reduce its CO 2 emissions by 23.7% of its 2005 levels by It plans to cut 45% of its CO 2 emissions through local renewable energy production, cogeneration/tri-generation and district heating and cooling. Genoa asked for the support of CASCADE peers to further improve its SEAP and ensure meeting its 2020 energy targets. The peers assessed the city s SEAP and recommended the following amendments: Improve the mainstreaming of the SEAP throughout the city s departments. Improve the integration of the harbour s energy strategy into the city s energy planning. Develop a long-term financial strategy to ensure the implementation of the actions included in your SEAP. Use the SEAP monitoring scheme as a tool to constantly review and improve your energy strategy. 10 visitors + 18 hosts + 4 facilitators Nantes: making sustainable mobility a political priority Reviewers: Burgas, Stockholm, Sunderland and Terrassa Facilitators: Koucky& Partners, EUROCITIES, Goja Consulting Nantes Metropole (NM) is a pioneer when it comes to sustainable mobility. It was the first French city to reintroduce trams in 1985 and has developed a high quality public transport network. At the same time, the city has taken many measures to decrease car use and promote alternative transport modes: e.g. investing in cycling infrastructure and promotion, introducing car-sharing and bike-rental schemes, adding measures to promote carpooling. NM has asked for the support of CASCADE peers to further improve its sustainable mobility strategy. The peers assessed the work of the NM and recommended the following improvements: Try to influence the transport planning outside the conurbation area: e.g. a regional mobility strategy to address long-distance commuters. Follow-up systematically the progress towards your energy and GHG goals and regularly update the political leaders. Explore new financial tools to influence travel behaviour and raise funds for mobility projects. Develop a long-term communication strategy relying more on emotional levers rather than rationales. Sunderland: a hub of the low carbon economy Reviewers: Amaroussion, Burgas, Nantes, Stockholm, Terrassa and Warsaw Facilitators: Koucky& Partners, EUROCITIES Sunderland combines ambitious climate goals with low-carbon economic activities to support a low-carbon-economy. It aims to cut its CO2 emissions by 34% by 2020 and 80% by Creating a sustainable transport system plays a key role in its low-carbon vision. This is why Sunderland asked for the support of CASCADE peers to further improve its mobility policies. The peers assessed the work of the city and recommended the following improvements: Low-carbon cars can significantly contribute to decreasing your carbon footprint. However to reach your goals you need to provide sustainable transport alternatives to reduce reliance on car use. Technical solutions can have a positive impact, but shouldn t be the only focus. However, reducing the need to travel and investing in cycling and walking can be effective low-cost solutions. Continue improving your public transport infrastructure, but also try to improve the quality of the service offered to attract an increasing number of passengers. 8 visitors + 20 hosts + 3 facilitators 8 visitors + 16 hosts + 4 facilitators

10 LESSONS LEARNT Lessons learnt during the CASCADE peer-review visits that can be used to complement the CASCADE benchmark and peer-to-peer learning methodology. 11 How to make our local energy policies better To increase the impact of innovative/ pilot projects, the city should embed them in its general energy strategy. It should also try to use the knowledge gained from these pilots to inform its future projects and plans. Include short-term targets in the city s long-term strategy. In addition, develop short-term action plans outlining how the city is going to achieve its longterm goals. Try to build partnerships with other neighbouring cities and regional authorities to create energy strategies at both the conurbation and the regional levels. How to make our peer-review method more effective The key to a good peer review is the ability of the peers to conduct good interviews. It s important that peers are aware of their role. Thus, it is essential to attend a training session. The information given through the selfassessment should be concise but clear. A teleconference during the desk review process can help explain unclear points, better define what information is missing and identify the right person to interview. Three days is not very long for a peerreview visit. A four- to five-day visit can give the peer reviewers more time to prepare for the interviews and to analyse the evidence and information collected. It will also provide more time for networking and making personal contacts. At the beginning of the visit, a clear explanation should be given of the structure of the process and of everyone s responsibility and role. It is also advisable to allocate tasks and responsibilities to the peers as from the preparation phase. Political support is necessary to ensure Regularly monitor not only the progress made towards the city s energy targets and goals but also the impact of specific measures to assess their effectiveness. Develop a strategy on how to integrate energy and sustainability issues in all departments and on how to cooperate between departments and units. Develop a long-term communication strategy relying more on emotional levers rather than rationales. Develop an overall financing strategy on how to fund the actions included in the city s SEAP. Explore new ways of financing: energy performance contracting, public-private partnerships etc. that the recommendations from peers for improvements will be taken into account. High level officers should actively participate in the peer review process. In addition, decision makers should be present at the conclusions & recommendations session. The visit is the end of the evaluation process but at the same time the beginning of improvements for the host city. The host city should carefully evaluate the results of the peer review and develop an action plan to improve its policies and projects. Moreover, it should identify the topics and projects for which it needs support and use the other three CASCADE peer-to-peer learning methods (mentoring, workshadowing, study visits) to find solutions and get new ideas. The peer reviewers should follow the implementation of the action plan closely through brief six-month progress reports. A new visit should be arranged 12 to 18 months after the peer review to evaluate the improvements made and make new recommendations for further improvements. How to organise a peer-review visit INITIATION The host city identifies suitable peer reviewers Training is scheduled for peer reviewers (peers) PREPARATION The host city drafts a self-assessment The peers undertake a desk review of the self-assessment Teleconference is scheduled for questions & clarifications and for developing the visit programme A visit date is set 1 st VISIT Open with ice breaking activities The facilitators explain the structure of the visit The peers gather evidence & information The peers record & interpret evidence The peers present their findings & recommendations Workshop is held to share experience between peers FOLLOW UP The peers draft a feedback report The host city develops an action plan based on review results The host city identifies new peer learning needs The host city sends six-month progress report(s) to reviewers Arrange follow up visit: / 2 years later 2 nd VISIT The peers assess the progress made against the CASCADE benchmark Peers and hosts identify problems and explore solutions The host city revises its action plan

11 12 Mentoring visits Explore new ideas and solutions and improve your energy policies and projects! Energy efficient buildings & districts Renewable energy & distribution of generated energy Energy in urban transport Edinburgh December 2013 Bilbao April 2013 Venice April 2013 Burgas September 2013 Terrassa 5-6 June 2013 Amaroussion 6-7 March 2013 Being involved in the CASCADE project has been really helpful for our city. We received valuable advice from CASCADE mentors that helped us to enhance our Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. Mentoring has also been an important exchange of information for our local stakeholders. Joan Chicón, Head of Department of International Relations and Universities, Terrassa City Council Facts: 6 visits 14 cities 65 technical experts 3 decision makers 23 local stakeholders

12 13 Amaroussion: building an effective SEAP management structure Mentors: Mannheim, Tampere and Warsaw Facilitators: Malmo, EUROCITIES Amaroussion is one of the leading cities in Greece when it comes to energy sustainability. It was the first city in Greece to introduce a public transport system and one of the first to introduce green criteria in its procurement. The city joined the Covenant of Mayors in 2011 and submitted its SEAP one year later. Amaroussion asked for the support of CASCADE mentors to build an effective administrative structure able to successfully deliver the city s energy strategy. Mentors and mentees together explored different options and solutions and came up with ideas for improvements: Create a network of SEAP contact persons in each department to assist the inter-departmental SEAP Committee already in place. Clearly define the responsibilities and SEAP-related goals of each department. Nominate a SEAP coordinator (a person or an office) to synchronise the work of the different departments. Clearly define the role and responsibilities of the energy office to be established. 3 mentors + 17 hosts + 2 facilitators Bilbao: making energyefficiency attractive to tenants Mentors: Amsterdam, Eindhoven Facilitator: Malmo Bilbao began the rehabilitation of its old city in At first, it followed a classic approach focusing on safeguarding the historic elements of the buildings. Soon, it extended the rehabilitation over other more disadvantaged areas of the city and it realised that a more holistic approach was required that took into account the social, environmental and economic aspects of housing. Bilbao asked for the support of CASCADE mentors to raise the awareness of tenants in its new energyefficient renovation projects. Mentors and mentees together explored different options and solutions and came up with new ideas: Use financial tools to better communicate the benefits of energyefficiency to residents, e.g. reduced rent. Speak in simple non-technical terms. Don t offer facade insulation but rather a decrease in energy costs or a cooler house during summer. Use ambassadors: i.e. satisfied clients of completed projects can attest to what can be achieved. Think up and work out an energyefficiency retrofit offer they can t refuse. 3 mentors + 12 hosts + 2 facilitators Edinburgh: creating a city-wide organisational structure Mentor: Mannheim Facilitator: Wuppertal Institute Edinburgh aims to cut its GHG emissions by 42% by In the case of Edinburgh this target is even more ambitious since the inner city is a protected world heritage site. The city joined the Covenant of Mayors in 2011 and is currently developing its SEAP. Edinburgh asked the support of CASCADE mentors to better engage its local stakeholders and establish a city-wide organisational structure to deliver its climate mitigation strategy. Mentors and mentees together explored different options and solutions and came up with new ideas: Run a participatory process to discuss the specific actions to be included in the SEAP. Involve all relevant stakeholders in SEAP implementation at an early stage. Build a city wide SEAP organisational structure. The city s Climate & Sustainability Team takes the role of SEAP coordinator, the Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership the role of the Advisory Board, and a qualified local stakeholder establishes and runs a Climate Change Agency. 2 mentors + 12 hosts + 1 facilitator

13 14 Venice: converting abandoned industrial areas into low-carbon hubs Mentors: Eindhoven, Gateshead Facilitator: Wuppertal Institute Venice deploys renewable energy sources and energy-efficiency techniques to turn abandoned heavy industrial areas into low-carbon development projects. The Certosa Island carbon-neutral urban park and the Porto Marghera eco-district are its two flagship projects. Both projects are meant to play a pivotal role in future development projects in Venice s island and industrial areas. Venice asked for the support of CASCADE mentors to further improve these two projects. Mentors and mentees together explored different options and solutions and came up with ideas for improvements: Develop a long-term vision and roadmap for Porto Marghera and Certosa Island projects. Develop an action plan with clear and realistic timelines for Certosa Island. Better define the systems for monitoring and evaluating the progress of the two projects. Better define the visitor target groups for Certosa Island. Set environmental criteria for the companies to settle in Porto Marghera. 2 mentors + 8 hosts + 1 facilitator Burgas: building an integrated transport system Mentor: Warsaw Facilitator: Koucky& Partners Burgas is a transport pioneer in South- East Europe. Back in 2009, it launched an ambitious project to develop an integrated transport system. The project is expected to completely transform the existing urban transport system, and significantly improve the transport services offered. Burgas asked for the support of CASCADE mentors to further improve its integrated transport strategy. Mentor and mentees together explored different options and solutions and came up with ideas for improvements: Use public-private partnerships as a means to finance, build and operate existing or new transport projects. Raise awareness of citizens and strengthen their participation in the planning process. Combine the investments in infrastructure with awareness-raising campaigns to increase cycling. Increase the pedestrian zones in the city centre. Explore the possibility of introducing a car-sharing system. 1 mentor + 20 hosts + 1 facilitator Terrassa: shifting towards a more sustainable mobility model Mentor: Nantes Metropole Facilitator: Koucky& Partners Terrassa approved its first Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) in The SUMP promoted a polycentric sustainable urban mobility model and improved the links between the city centre and local centres in suburban areas by creating safe walking and cycling routes. The city is currently reviewing its SUMP. It seeks to improve air quality, reduce noise pollution and increase energy efficiency. Terrassa asked for the support of CASCADE mentors to update its SUMP and improve its mobility strategy. Mentor and mentees together explored different options and solutions and came up with new ideas: Introduce an all doors boarding system in public transport buses to increase travel speed. Convert the bus-lines serving the train stations into high-performance lines. Further promote cycling: e.g. give priority to cyclists in intersections, double circulation of bikes in one-way streets. Create low-emission zones in the city centre. 1 mentor + 7 hosts + 1 facilitator

14 LESSONS LEARNT Lessons learnt during the CASCADE mentoring visits that can be used to complement the CASCADE benchmark and peer-to-peer learning methodology. 15 How to make our local energy policies better Establish a long-term energy vision (e.g. until 2050) and connect it to a roadmap on how to achieve it. Build integrated projects or strategies. Take advantage of synergetic effects and co-benefits between the different fields of action and reduce conflicts between different priorities (economic, ecologic, social, etc.). Clearly define the energy-related responsibilities and goals of each department and make clear how its work contributes to the overall goal of the city. Build a city-wide structure to connect all the local stakeholders working on energy issues and use the wealth of their knowledge and expertise to deliver benefits to the city. The key to good mentoring is the mentors ability to guide the hosts and help them develop solutions tailored to their own needs. It is important that both mentors and mentees are aware of their roles. Thus, it is necessary that they both attend a collective training session. The mentors should have a clear overview of the mentoring needs and local situation before the visit. The mentees should send them information well in advance. A teleconference could help clarify questions and build a better understanding of the needs and expectations. It is better first to make sure that mentors have all the information they need and then set the date of the visit. The mentors need to build a good understanding of the local situation. They have to understand how the mentoring topics are related to the city s vision and goals, what challenges and difficulties face the host city and how it has tried to overcome them. Thus, they need to have discussions with all the parties involved (decision makers, local stakeholders) and not just with the city experts. In addition, they need to visit the project sites. It is important to arrange some time for the mentors to evaluate and discuss what they saw and heard before they Establish a permanent structure (e.g. forum) of dialogue and collaboration between city experts, politicians and local stakeholders, to build consensus and get support for energy strategies and projects. Education plays an important role in shifting citizens behaviour towards sustainability. Educational activities that target school-age children can thus significantly influence future energy habits. All energy-related projects should include a communication strategy. The strategy should not focus on raising awareness but rather on actively involving citizens and local stakeholders. How to make our mentoring method more effective meet the mentees and start exploring new ideas and solutions. The mentors should not sell solutions from their cities, but they should enable the mentees to explore the suitability and applicability of different ideas, options and solutions. Open, honest and interactive discussions are crucial for good mentoring. Political support is key to ensuring the implementation of the action plan. High level officers should actively participate in the mentoring process. In addition, the mentors should communicate the results of the mentoring to city politicians or other local decision making structures (e.g. consultation committees and forums). The visit is the beginning and not the end of the learning process. At the conclusion of the visit, mentors and mentees together start drafting an action plan. The mentees should be given some time to digest the mentoring results and finalise the action plan. The mentors should follow the implementation of the action plan closely through brief six-month progress reports and/or teleconferences. A new visit should be arranged 6-12 months after the first visit to evaluate the progress made and update the action plan. How to organise a mentoring visit INITIATION The mentees identify the mentoring topic(s) The mentees select suitable mentors Mentors and mentees are trained PREPARATION The mentees send detailed information to mentors Teleconference(s) are organised to better define mentoring needs A visit date is set 1 st VISIT Open with ice breaking activities Mentors and mentees build an understanding of the local situation The mentors meet to discuss (without mentees) Mentors and mentees explore solutions Mentors and mentees start drafting an action plan The mentors meet with decision makers FOLLOW UP The mentors draft a feedback report The mentees finalise the action plan The mentees send six-month progress report(s) to mentors Teleconference(s) are scheduled to discuss the action plan progress Set a visit date: 6-12 months later 2 nd VISIT The mentors evaluate the progress of the mentees Mentors and mentees identify problems and explore solutions The mentees revise the action plan

15 16 Work-shadowing visits Observe how things are done elsewhere and get ideas for new working methods! Energy efficient buildings & districts Renewable energy & distribution of generated energy Energy in urban transport Malmo Gateshead 12 June 2013 Birmingham Mannheim 9-11 September 2013 Birmingham Sunderland 18 February 2014 Nantes Venice 8-10 July 2013 Terrassa - Gijon 4-5 July 2013 Work-shadowing allows you to have deep insight into a work area in which you are particularly interested. In Nantes I had the opportunity to shadow a colleague with the same working role. This helped me to improve my work as climate coordinator Simone Tola, coordinator of Venice Energy Agency (AGIRE) Facts: 5 visits 9 cities 21 technical experts 7 decision makers 6 local stakeholders

16 17 Birmingham - Mannheim: making homes more energy-efficient Host: Birmingham Visitor: Mannheim Birmingham s Energy Savers programme aims to upgrade 60,000 homes and combat fuel poverty. Mannheim aims to double its home-refurbishment rate through free energy advice and local grants. Birmingham offered a workshadowing opportunity to Mannheim to exchange experiences in energy-efficient retrofit. The two cities identified common challenges and shared solutions to make their building stock more energy-efficient: Cities can stimulate the retrofit market by instigating financial incentives, new building regulations, energy standards and funding opportunities. Public private partnerships are effective building retrofit instruments. The local government provides accountability, access to potential customers and to national and European funds, while the private sector provides expertise and takes up risks. To reach the socially disadvantaged and convince them to refurbish their homes, it is important to use trusted ambassadors : e.g. community groups, voluntary organisations. 1 visitor + 5 hosts Malmo - Gateshead: setting strategic goals & achieving energy ambitions Host: Malmo Visitor: Gateshead Malmo has ambitious energy-efficiency goals and a good strategy and action plan in place to achieve them. Gateshead has an ambitious strategy to improve the energy performance of its building stock and is rapidly becoming a strong player in the field of energy-efficiency. Malmo offered a work-shadowing opportunity to a Gateshead Council Cabinet member with Portfolio for Transport and Environment to exchange experiences in developing energy-efficient policies and securing carbon reductions with politicians from Malmo. The two cities identified common challenges and shared the following solutions: Prioritise energy and resource efficiency measures in the development of political goals and strategies. Foster cooperation between city politicians and technical staff, as well as between the city and the private sector and local NGOs. Make use of market-oriented financial instruments (e.g. public-private partnerships) to fund innovative sustainable development projects. 1 visitor + 3 hosts Birmingham - Sunderland: building effective district heating systems Host: Birmingham Visitor: Sunderland Birmingham has an effective district heating network that distributes heat and cooling to some of its largest public and private consumers. Sunderland is now investigating the operational viability of a district heating scheme for key sites in the city. Birmingham offered a work-shadowing opportunity to Sunderland to share its district heating experience. The two cities shared technical and commercial solutions to developing effective urban district heating schemes, including: Creating a network of Energy Centres each of which provides heat and power to major energy consumers through local district heating/cooling grids. Using public-private partnerships to secure the delivery of energy and transfer the risk of investment. The private partner takes up the cost of investment and supplies energy to agreed output specifications over an agreed timeframe. Acting as coordinator, the city engages with the various public and private bodies to develop the schemes, determines viability and maintains an element of control of the projects by co-operating with the private partner. 2 visitors + 2 hosts

17 18 Nantes Metropole - Venice: establishing effective climate management structures Host: Nantes Metropole (NM) Visitor: Venice NM was one of the first cities to sign the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) and to submit a SEAP in 2007, while Venice signed the CoM and submitted its SEAP in NM already has a climate change adaptation strategy, while Venice is just now starting to develop one. NM offered a workshadowing opportunity to Venice to exchange experiences in climate mitigation and adaptation. The two cities identified common challenges and shared solutions to decrease GHG emissions and adapt to climate change: Climate mitigation and adaptation strategies call for a cross-cutting approach and for interdepartmental collaboration. The SEAP and Climate Plan coordinators should actively participate in the development of all energy- and climaterelated projects and should have the authorisation to amend existing projects. Develop climate projects and programmes based on three strands: city strategies, engagement of citizens and local stakeholders, and exemplary behaviour of local government. Terrassa - Gijon: sustainable urban mobility planning Host: Terrassa Visitor: Gijon Terrassa is currently reviewing its sustainable urban mobility plan (SUMP), while Gijon has already an updated SUMP in place. Terrassa offered a workshadowing opportunity to politicians and technical experts from Gijon to exchange experiences in implementation of sustainable mobility policies and plans. The two cities identified common challenges and shared solutions to increase the use of sustainable transport modes: Strengthen cooperation between city experts and politicians. Strong political commitment and effective technical solutions are key to promoting sustainable mobility. Improve bike safety to increase cycling: e.g. cycling lanes, good signalling of dangerous intersections. Create functional walking networks and not simply pedestrianise central streets. Make public transport attractive: e.g. improve access to bus stops, create bus lanes to increase travel speed. 3 visitors + 5 hosts 1 visitor + 11 hosts

18 LESSONS LEARNT Lessons learnt during the CASCADE work-shadowing visits that can be used to complement the CASCADE benchmark and peer-to-peer learning methodology. 19 How to make our local energy policies better Strengthen cooperation between city experts and politicians. Strong political commitment and effective technical solutions are the key to promoting energy sustainability. The city s energy coordinator (expert or team) should actively participate in the development of all energy-related projects and be high enough in the administration hierarchy to be able to intervene and make changes in the projects of all the city-departments. The work-shadowing topic should be clearly defined. The visitors should send information well in advance. A teleconference can help to clarify questions and build a better understanding of the needs and expectations. It is better first to make sure that everything is clear for both parties and then to set the date of the visit. The duration and format of the visit should be adapted to visitors needs. Thus, it is important that the visitors and hosts build the visit programme together. Open, honest and interactive discussions are the key to a good work-shadowing visit. Visitors and hosts should share experiences, compare working methods, explain what is going well and where there is need for improvements. The visiting programme should ensure that the two work-shadowing partners have plenty of time to discuss issues. To gain a clear insight into the work of the hosts, the visitors need to understand the general organisational framework of the hosting city, meet and talk with the key personnel and/or stakeholders who closely collaborate with their hosts and visit some of the projects closely related to their hosts work. The city can coordinate and facilitate the implementation of sustainable energy projects. It can engage with the various public and private bodies to develop new projects and maintain an element of control of the projects by co-operating with the private partner and in general by securing its influence on decision making. The city can stimulate the market by instigating financial incentives, new regulations, standards and funding opportunities. How to make our work-shadowing method more effective It is important to arrange some individual time for the visitors and hosts to evaluate what they saw and heard and prepare themselves for the final session. At this final session, the two work-shadowing partners describe the lessons learnt and how they are going to use the knowledge gained to improve their work. The visit is the beginning and not the end of the learning process. The visitors should carry out a transferability analysis to investigate whether and how they can transfer the new solutions and methods to their city. Based on the results of their analysis they should develop an action plan. The visitors should keep the hosts updated on the results of the analysis and the progress of their action plan. Hosts can help them overcome difficulties and adapt the new methods and solutions to their local context. A return visit, during which the roles are reversed, should be arranged 6-12 months after the first visit. The hosts visit the visitors to help them with their action plan and at the same time to get an insight into their working methods and to get ideas to improve their own. How to organise a work-shadowing visit INITIATION The visitors identify their needs The visitors identify the right shadowing partner (hosts) PREPARATION The visitors send detailed information to the hosts Teleconferences are used to better define the visitors needs visitors and hosts develop the visit programme jointly A visit date is set VISIT CITY 1 visitors and hosts introduce themselves to each other The visitors get a clear insight into hosts work: discussions, meetings, site-visits visitors and hosts are given individual time Establish conclusions & Future steps TRANSFER SOLUTIONS The visitors draft a feedback report The visitors conduct a transferability analysis of identified solutions The visitors develop an action plan to transfer solutions The visitors update hosts on progress & challenges Arrange a return visit to City 2 RETURN VISIT- CITY 2 The roles are reversed: visitors become hosts & hosts visitors The hosts update the visitors on achievements The visitors get a clearer insight into hosts work (City 2): discussions, meetings, site-visits visitors and hosts are given individual time Conclusions

19 20 study visits Explore new ideas and solutions and improve your energy policies and projects! Energy efficient buildings & districts Renewable energy & distribution of generated energy Energy in urban transport Stockholm April 2013 Gateshead September 2013 Malmo June 2013 Eindhoven November 2013 Hamburg May 2013 Amsterdam May 2013 Eindhoven October 2013 Mannheim September 2013 Warsaw September 2013 Milan 6-7 February 2013 Terrassa October 2013 Taking part in a study visit is a great chance to gain fresh ideas for your own city. Inspired by Malmo s communication strategy we have redesigned our climate awareness campaign. Now our campaign is more emotional and closer to people. Agnes Schönfelder, Climate Protection Centre, City of Mannheim Such a study visit is very useful for the host city, indeed it enables us to reflect on our activities and take the time to stand back and put our work in a wider context. I am very happy to be able to showcase all our projects and initiatives, and it makes me proud of our work. Jim Gillon, Climate Change &Natural Environment Team Leader, Gateshead City Council Facts: 11 visits 37 cities 97 technical experts 14 decision makers 53 local stakeholders

20 21 Amsterdam: smart solutions for energy-efficient houses Visitors: Genoa, Hamburg, Tallinn and Tampere Facilitator: Malmo Improving the energy performance of the building stock plays an important role in achieving Amsterdam s ambitious goals of decreasing GHG emissions by 40% by 2025 and by 75% by Amsterdam hosted a CASCADE study visit and shared solutions on how cities can make their buildings more energy-efficient. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to improve their energy-efficient housing policies: An Energy Atlas showing the energy demand at the building level and the local potential to produce energy from renewable energy sources. This can facilitate energy refurbishment policies and trigger new private investments. To develop effective energy-efficient housing strategies, cities should clearly define the steps to be taken, use all the available energy data and involve all relevant stakeholders. In case of district heating, the useful heat produced during the power generation is not discarded instead it is used to heat the water of the district heating system. Thus, using district heating for space heating is much more energy efficient (in city-level) than using individual natural gas heating systems. Gateshead: combatting fuel poverty Visitors: Burgas, Bydgoszcz, Genoa, Gijon, Iasi and Sunderland Facilitator: EUROCITIES Gateshead is making great progress with regard to addressing fuel poverty and improving the energy performance of its building stock. Good interdepartmentalcooperation and strong public-private partnerships are the key to its successful energy-efficient housing projects. Gateshead hosted a CASCADE study visit and shared solutions to improve energyefficiency in homes and cut energy bills. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to improve their energy-efficient housing policies and projects: Create strong partnerships between public, private and social stakeholders to share knowledge and resources, and lever in external funding from energy companies. Involve residents in the development/ retrofit of their neighbourhoods and houses, using their experience to secure further buy-in publicity. Foster collaboration between the climate & energy and social services departments to reduce fuel poverty and link energy efficiency to existing and planned regeneration programmes. 10 visitors + 11 hosts + 1 facilitator Malmo: engaging stakeholders in sustainable housing Visitors: Gateshead, Gdynia, Mannheim and Skopje Host/Facilitator: Malmo Malmo is an ambitious pioneer when it comes to new, energy-efficient housing development projects. Developing partnerships and working closely together with all the stakeholders involved is the key to realising the ambitious projects. Malmo hosted a CASCADE study visit and shared its innovative sustainable housing strategy. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to construct sustainable buildings and neighbourhoods back home: Be ambitious! Ambition is the driving power of change and innovation. Set high sustainability standards in new development areas. At an early stage bring together all construction companies and municipal departments involved in the development project to discuss and develop common standards and targets. Sign climate contacts with energy providers to promote more sustainable energy supply models. Build long-term relationships both with external stakeholders and stakeholders inside the city administration. 10 visitors + 4 hosts + 2 facilitators 7 visitors + 4 hosts + 1 facilitator

21 22 Mannheim: building energyefficient houses and districts Visitors: Eindhoven, Milan, Sliven and Timisoara Facilitator: Malmo Mannheim aims to significantly decrease GHG emissions from its building stock. It sets high energy-efficiency standards for new constructions and supports refurbishment of residential buildings through free energy audits and financial support. Mannheim hosted a CASCADE study visit and shared its strategy for energy-efficient buildings and districts. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to improve their energy-efficient housing projects: Set high energy efficient standards and place them in the master-plan of new development areas. Have a more holistic refurbishment/ development approach. Think about how to refurbish/develop an entire block instead of just one building. Work together with all stakeholders involved: e.g. construction companies, regional energy provider, public transport company, universities and citizens. Use incentives and provide free advice services to convince residents to upgrade the energy performance of their buildings. 13 visitors + 9 hosts + 2 facilitators Eindhoven: triggering renewable energy investments Visitors: Brighton& Hove, Rzeszow, Terrassa and Venice Facilitator: EUROCITIES Eindhoven leads the way towards a more sustainable future aiming to become energy neutral by To achieve this ambitious goal the city facilitates, motivates and inspires citizens and market actors to invest in local renewable energy production. Eindhoven hosted a CASCADE study visit and shared solutions on how cities can trigger investments and increase local renewable energy production. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to boost renewable energy production back home: Develop free web-tools that allow citizens to calculate the electricity that would be produced if they installed photovoltaic panels on their roofs. Use the biomass produced locally from green areas and private gardens to fuel CHP plants and produce heat for district heating. Use aquifer thermal energy storage systems to combine heat/cold production with groundwater remediation. Team-up with local citizen renewable energy cooperatives to enable citizen investments. 7 visitors + 10 hosts + 1 facilitator Hamburg: applying innovative renewable energy solutions Visitors: Belfast, Edinburgh, Eindhoven and Vilnius Facilitator: Wuppertal Institute Hamburg runs one of the largest urban development labs in Europe: the area of the International Building Exhibition Hamburg (IBA) in Wilhelmsburg where the exhibition took place in IBA has been seeking answers to the most pressing issues facing modern cities through innovative urban projects. IBA hosted a CASCADE visit to share its Climate Protection Concept Renewable Wilhemsburgh, which aims to turn the area into a 100% climate neutral district by The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to supply urban areas with locally produced renewable energy: Develop pilot project exhibitions and support the construction of exemplary buildings. Transform former landfill sites and oldinfrastructure into energy hubs. Establish a city-owned renewable energy supply company to improve delivery of the city s renewable energy goals. Create renewable energy stakeholder clusters to support knowledge sharing, networking, cooperation and development of new concepts and solutions. 8 visitors + 1 host + 1 facilitator

22 23 Stockholm: turning into a fossil-free city Visitors: Amsterdam, Bacau and Hamburg Facilitator: Wuppertal Institute Stockholm aims to have converted into a fossil-free city by The strength of Stockholm s energy system is the high rate of district heating and cooling supply, the local production of biogas to fuel public transport and its ambitious goals of energy efficiency. Stockholm hosted a CASCADE study visit and shared solutions on how cities can build efficient lowcarbon district heating systems. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to improve their district heating strategies back home: It is a big challenge to replace coal with biomass, in existing CHP plants. Usually biomass is co-fired with coal as it is not possible to replace it completely. It might be better to build new plants that make exclusive use of biomass as fuel. Closely cooperate with the district heating provider and make sure that the city influences its decision-making. A good waste separation system helps to save resources and to produce fuel locally for district heating (e.g. biogas production from food waste, energy production from the incineration of nonrecyclable waste). 10 visitors + 7 hosts + 1 facilitator Eindhoven: moving to an energy neutral mobility model Visitors: Gijon, London borough of Haringey, Malmo, Tampere, Warsaw, Yerevan & Executive Agency for Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (EASME) Facilitator: Malmo Mobility plays a key role in achieving Eindhoven s 2045 energy neutral vision. To move towards a more sustainable mobility model, the city upgrades its cycling infrastructure and builds a reliable electric vehicle charging network. Eindhoven hosted a CASCADE study visit and shared solutions on how to promote cycling and electro-mobility. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to decrease the carbon footprint of transport in their cities: Improve bike traffic and safety conditions to increase cycling: e.g. give priority to cyclists, create elevated bike-roundabouts in intersections. Focus on more efficient use of existing infrastructure and capacity to avoid new investments and save on budget. The Smart Mobility concept and intelligent transport technologies create great opportunities to integrate and optimise transport management systems. Optimal allocation of public electric vehicle charging stations is key to promoting electro-mobility. Milan: smart solutions to decrease car use and raise funds Visitors: Budapest, Nantes Facilitator: Koucky& Partners Milan applies smart traffic and parking management solutions to decrease GHG emissions and raise funds for its sustainable mobility projects. It has successfully introduced a congestion charge system in the city-centre, an effective zonal parking system and a smart charging system for car-parking. Milan hosted a CASCADE study visit to share its car traffic and parking management policies. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to decrease GHG emissions and raise funds: Citizen consensus is essential to apply traffic and parking restrictions successfully. A public referendum could provide the necessary public support to decision makers. A congestion charge system is an effective way not only to decrease car use and improve air-quality, but also to raise funds to finance sustainable mobility projects. Intelligent transport systems allow effective management of the city s car parking and goods loading and unloading schemes, as well as an increase to city revenues (decrease the fare evasion rate). 10 visitors + 7 hosts + 1 facilitator 7 visitors + 14 hosts + 1 facilitator

23 24 Terrassa: shifting towards more sustainable transport modes Visitors: Burgas, Tartu and Sunderland Facilitator: EUROCITIES Terrassa is becoming a more sustainable city by continually improving its mobility infrastructure and changing the mobility behaviour of its citizens. In recent years, it restricted car use in central areas and significantly upgraded its public transport system and its cycling and walking infrastructure. Terrassa hosted a CASCADE study visit to share its sustainable mobility strategy and plans. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to promote more sustainable transport modes in their cities: Develop a comprehensive long-term strategy with well-defined targets and actions. Adopt a more integrated mobility planning approach to capture the synergies between the different city plans: Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, Sustainable Energy Action Plan, Air Pollution Plan and Noise Plan. Combine improvements in transport infrastructure with educational activities. Education plays a crucial role in changing citizens travel habits. 6 visitors + 5 hosts + 1 facilitator Warsaw: cutting carbon and creating growth Visitors: Bratislava, Sunderland, Stockholm and Tirana Facilitator: Koucky& Partners Transport plays an instrumental role in Warsaw s green growth strategy. The city continues to build a high-quality transport system to facilitate the movement of people and goods. Warsaw is a Polish leader when it comes to the use of alternative transport fuels and propulsions in transport. Warsaw hosted a CASCADE study visit to share its experience with using sustainable transport to bring growth, innovation and a better quality of life. The visitors got useful information and came up with new ideas to promote sustainable transport: Political support is a key to large-scale transport investments and taking up of innovative technologies. Connect the city s transport strategy with its economic growth, spatial planning and energy strategies. Create clusters to pull together the forces of public administration, science and research sector, business and industry, and support local innovation in transport. Build an integrated public transport system that offers several alternatives to commuting and facilitates intermodal travel. 7 visitors + 2 hosts + 1 facilitator LESSONS LEARNT Lessons learnt during the CASCADE study visits that can be used to complement the CASCADE benchmark and peer-to-peer learning methodology. How to make our local energy policies better Create a coherent vision along with related programmes and plans to facilitate the work of the various stakeholders (both public and private). Build long-term relationships both with external stakeholders and with stakeholders inside the city administration. Closely cooperate with the energy utilities and make sure that the city influences its decision-making. Create clusters to pull together the forces of public administration, science and research sectors, business and industry, and support networking, cooperation and development of new concepts and solutions. Develop free tools providing open energy data to citizens and companies to trigger new energy investments. A city cannot achieve its energy targets with its own forces. It needs to facilitate, inspire and enable citizens and companies to invest in energy-efficiency and in renewable energy production. Create strong partnerships between public, private and social stakeholders to share knowledge and resources, and lever in external funding. Focus on more efficient use of existing infrastructure and capacity to avoid new investments and save budget.

24 25 How to make our study-visit method more effective A good matching between demonstrated projects and visitors can increase the impact of the visit. Indeed, it is more likely that the visitors will initiate a new project or improve an existing one when there is a good match between the projects seen during the visit and the projects they are working back home. In short, it is important to dedicate a great deal of time and effort during the initiation and preparation phases to achieve a good match between the visit programme offered and visitors needs. One and a half days is not very long for a study visit that aims to encourage sharing experiences and to facilitate participants to make new contacts. A longer visit (e.g. 3 days) would allow more time for discussion and networking. Small visiting groups facilitate interactive discussions. However, a higher number of participating cities give a more transnational perspective. Groups of 7-8 participants with no more than two delegates per city seem to be a good compromise. The sharing of experiences can be significantly improved if the participants know more about the work and background of their peers from the other cities before the visit. Circulating short profiles of visiting cities and people prior to the visit could be very helpful. Furthermore, it would be better if the participants made a short presentation of their cities and their work at the beginning and not at the end of the visit. Quite often the participants are not able to attend the conclusion and discussion session at the end of the visit. It might be better to have discussion and conclusion sessions at the end of each day or after each batch of presentations and site-visits. Presentations followed by site-visits to the described projects seem to be the most effective format of a study visit. The format can be further improved by including several opportunities for networking and discussion. In addition, a presentation of the city s energy vision and strategy at the beginning would help the visitors to understand better how the projects presented fit into the general framework. Interactive discussions during the presentations and site-visits better facilitate sharing of knowledge and experience compared to fixed Questions & Answers sessions at the end. In addition, the visitors should be encouraged to make recommendations for improvements. Presentations by and discussions with local stakeholders involved in the projects help participants to understand better how these were developed and implemented. Hosts should avoid having presentations only by the personnel of the city. The visit is the beginning and not the end of the learning process. The visitors should carry out a transferability analysis to investigate whether and how the new solutions and methods can be transferred to their city. Based on the results of the analysis they should develop an action plan. The visitors should keep the hosts and other visitors updated about the results of the analysis and the progress of their action plans. A teleconference between the participants six months after the visit can help to evaluate the impact of the visit and strengthen collaboration. The organisation of a study visit brings together staff from different departments and usually improves interdepartmental communication in the host city. The host city should try to capitalise on these new contacts to improve the interdepartmental collaboration and develop cross-cutting projects. Hosting a study visit can improve the visibility of the city s energy or mobility team and reaffirm the interest of decision makers. The city officers should try to involve the city decision makers in the visit and give publicity to improve the political and citizen support of their work. How to organise a study visit INITIATION The host city drafts a guide with short descriptions of its projects The visitors express their interest for the visit and for specific projects The visitors send short profiles of their cities and a short description of their expectations PREPARATION The host city develops a draft programme based on visitors interests Teleconferences are used to better define visitors needs & expectations The host city finalises the visit programme A visit date is set The host city circulates short profiles of visiting cities and people VISIT Ice breaking activities Introduction of visiting cities and people Description of host city s vision and strategy Presentations & site visits Networking & discussion breaks Discussion & Conclusion sessions at the end of each day TRANSFER SOLUTIONS The facilitator drafts a feedback report The visitors develop action plans for transferring solutions Teleconference is organised to update other participants about progress and improvements made The visitors send progress reports to the rest of the participants

25 26 Peer-advice visits Leading the way to energy sustainability in our regions Solna Botkyrka Turku Espoo Glasgow Stirling Durham Stockton On Tees Hartlepool Middlesbrough Worcester Brest St Nazaire Telford Rennes Angers Rotterdam Breda Utrecht Helmond Viernheim Ludwigshafen Plock Pruszkow Langreo Mieres Cinisello Balsamo San Dona di Piave Pavia Mira Savona La Spezia Yambol Stara Zagora Rubi Mataro Galatsi

26 27 Bulgaria Burgas offered peer advice to the cities of Stara Zagora and Yambol. Stara Zagora is starting a new sustainable mobility project and it was interested in getting ideas for improving the energy-efficiency of its transport sector. Yambol was running a new programme for the refurbishment of its municipal buildings and had a great deal to learn from Burgas that has already refurbished the majority of its schools and kindergarten buildings. Germany Mannheim offered peer advice to the cities of Ludwigshafen and Viernheim. It shared its experience on national funding opportunities with Ludwigshafen and discussed how the two cities could influence the travel habits of people commuting between Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Viernheim received support with regard to increasing deployment of solar energy technologies and promoting higher energy construction standards in new development areas. Greece Amaroussion offered peer advice to the city of Galatsi. Galatsi is thinking of signing the Covenant of Mayors and it was interested in getting information from a more experienced city. Amaroussion explained the steps involved in developing a SEAP and how it can help a city achieve its energy goals. Finland Tampere offered peer advice to the cities of Espoo and Turku. It shared its experience in increasing the deployment of renewable energy. The visit to Espoo focused on the integration of renewable energy into the city s urban plan and on available tools to enable citizens and companies to invest in renewable energy production. In the case of Turku, the two cities evaluated together the local renewable energy potential and the different scenarios to increase the share of renewables in the local energy mix from 24% in 2014 to 50% in France Nantes Metropole (NM) had peer advice meetings with the cities of the network of Metropolitan Pole Loire Bretagne : Angers, Brest, Rennes, St. Nazaire (NM is also member of the network). NM arranged a network meeting dedicated to the CASCADE topic of energy in urban transport and shared experiences on clean fuels for public transport, cycling and e-mobility. Because of the strong interest of the participating cities in e-mobility, NM arranged a second meeting with the participation of experts from AVERE network. Italy Genoa offered peer advice to the cities of La Spezia and Savona. Both cities are important tourist and commercial ports and share common challenges with Genoa. Genoa shared its SEAP implementation experience. La Spezia has already signed the Covenant of Mayors, while Savona is thinking of signing it. The discussion focused on decreasing the GHG-emissions caused by traffic from the port areas, and on the energy efficiency of buildings. Milan offered peer advice to the cities of Cinisello Balsamo and Pavia. Both cities are signatories of the Covenant of Mayors and they are currently implementing their SEAPs. Milan shared its experience in improving the energy performance of buildings and districts. It also provided Cinisello Balsamo with ideas on how to engage citizens and local stakeholders in its energy projects and Pavia with ideas on how to integrate the concept of energyefficient buildings in smart-city projects. Venice offered peer advice to the cities of Mira and San Dona di Piave. Mira had recently approved its SEAP and was interested in learning how Venice was implementing and funding its own SEAP. San Dona di Piave was seeking support for its Casa Buona project, which aims to decrease the carbon footprint of private buildings.

27 28 Poland Warsaw offered peer advice to the cities of Plock and Pruszkow. It shared its experience of using national and European funds to finance sustainable energy projects. Plock has been unsuccessful in securing funding from the Polish Low- Carbon Economy Programme, while Pruszkow was drafting its application at that time. Pruszkow was interested in the Polish Green Investment Scheme and the EU ELENA financial support facility. Plock was also seeking to improve its communication strategy. Sweden Stockholm offered peer advice to the cities of Botkyrka and Solna. Botkyrka aims to improve the energy-efficiency of its building stock and increase the deployment of renewable energy. It was interested in receiving information on Stockholm s energy-efficient retrofit strategies and the Stockholm solar map, which provides information on solar potential at building level. Solna is planning to build a network of electricvehicle charging stations and sought further information and support. Spain Gijon offered peer advice to the cities of Langreo and Mieres. Langreo was impressed by Gijon s outdoor lighting work and sought its support to improve the energy efficiency of lighting in its outdoor areas. Mieres was interested in Gijon s car-sharing initiative and the use of electric vehicles. Terrassa offered peer advice to the cities of Mataro and Rubi. It shared its experience of running a local stakeholders mobility forum. Mataro had already a mobility forum in place, but needed to strengthen its role and improve its operation, while Rubi lacked a public consultation structure. Terrassa also shared experiences and lowcost solutions to promote alternative transport modes and decrease GHGemissions from urban transport. The Netherlands Amsterdam offered peer advice to the cities of Rotterdam and Utrecht. It shared its Energy Atlas experience from the TRANSFORM FP7 project. The Energy Atlas is a map that brings all energy-related data together. On the one hand, Rotterdam had already collected the necessary energy data for building an atlas, but it didn t know how to use the information to trigger investments. Utrecht, on the other hand, had no Energy Atlas or similar database. Eindhoven offered peer advice to the cities of Breda and Helmond. It discussed with Breda the challenges of producing heat for district heating in biomass-fuelled CHP plants located inside densely populated areas, as well as the wind energy potential in the region. With Helmond the focus was on funding tools to finance sustainability projects and the legislative capacities of Dutch cities to impose their own energy standards.

28 29 United Kingdom Birmingham offered peer advice to the cities of Telford and Worcester. It shared experiences from its building retrofit programme the Birmingham Energy Savers. It explained what building retrofit was about and the key issues of community engagement in this kind of programme. Edinburgh offered peer advice to the cities of Glasgow and Stirling. Glasgow is a signatory to the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) and is currently participating in the STEP UP FP7 project, which aims to assist cities in enhancing their SEAPs. As a participant in the EU Cities Adapt project, Stirling has used mentoring methodology and although not a CoM signatory is committed to a sustainable energy future. The visits provided Edinburgh with an opportunity to share its own valuable learning outcomes from CASCADE, to compare experiences of using peer-topeer learning methods and of sustainable energy action planning. Sunderland offered peer advice to the cities of Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. The two cities are located within the Tees Valley economic area, and have issues similar to those experienced by Sunderland in terms of transport infrastructure. Sunderland shared challenges and solutions on carbon transport projects and sustainable transport measures. Specific areas of interest included expanding the use of electric vehicles within fleet operations, and the development of recharging infrastructure at workplace locations. Gateshead offered peer advice to the cities of Stockton On Tees and Durham. It shared its district heating experience. Stockton On Tees was considering construction plans for a district heating network only, using waste heat from the local processing industries. Durham was assessing a wide range of buildings, both public and private to examine the feasibility for district heating. Gateshead explored together with the two cities different options to de-risk their projects and improve the business case.

29 30 Spreading knowledge and experience European seminars engaging 640 city officials Bulgaria Burgas 28 January 2014 Finland Tampere 4 December 2013 France Bordeaux 28 November 2013 Poland Zabrze 13 March 2014 Spain Gijon 22 April 2014 Sweden Stockholm 25 September 2013 Stockholm 25 September 2013 Tampere 4 December 2013 Germany Mannheim 18 February 2014 the Netherlands Amsterdam 17 April 2014 Glasgow 28 April 2014 Greece Athens 6 December 2013 United Kingdom Glasgow 28 April 2014 Italy Naples 28 March 2014 Amsterdam 17 April 2014 Zabrze 13 March 2014 Mannheim 18 February 2014 Gijon 22 April 2014 Bordeaux 28 November 2013 Burgas 28 January 2014 Naples 28 March 2014 Athens 6 December 2013

30 33 In the CASCADE peer review method a group of people (experts, decision makers, stakeholders) from different cities is brought together to jointly evaluate, ACHIEVEMENTS against the CASCADE benchmark, the climate and energy policy performance of the host city. These people are usually called peers or equals, as they work on similar issues in their cities administrations and they have similar working backgrounds. The peers group follows a structured and well-defined procedure for assessing the performance of the host city. It first has a thorough desk review of its selfassessment report and then visits the host city to seek further evidence. Once the evidence is put together, the peers

31 34 A network of cities 76 cities 19 countries 35 Better collaboration between cities CASCADE partners 19 cities Peer-advice cities 37 cities Tampere Amaroussion, Amsterdam, Birmingham, Burgas, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Gateshead, Genoa, Gijon, Malmo, Mannheim, Milan, Nantes, Stockholm, Sunderland, Tampere, Terrassa, Venice and Warsaw. Invited cities 20 cities Bacau, Belfast, Bilbao, Bratislava, Brighton & Hove, Budapest, Bydgoszcz, Gdynia, Hamburg, Iasi, London Borough of Haringey, Skopje, Sliven, Rzeszow, Tallinn, Tartu, Timisoara, Tirana, Vilnius and Yerevan. Angers, Botkyrka, Breda, Brest, Cinisello Balsamo, Durham, Espoo, Galatsi, Glasgow, Hartlepool, Helmond, Langreo, La Spezia, Ludwigshafen, Mataro, Middlesbrough, Mieres, Mira, Pavia, Plock, Pruszkow, Rennes, Rotterdam, Rubi, San Dona di Piave, Savona, Solna, St. Nazaire, Stara Zagora, Stirling, Stockton On Tees, Telford, Turku, Utrecht, Yambol, Viernheim and Worcester. Stirling Glasgow Edinburgh Sunderland Belfast Durham Gateshead Hartlepool Stockton On Tees Middlesbrough Telford Birmingham Worcester London Borough of Haringey Brighton & Hove Brest Rennes Angers Nantes St Nazaire Amsterdam Rotterdam Breda Utrecht Helmond Eindhoven Hamburg Viernheim Mannheim Ludwigshafen Turku Espoo Solna Tallinn Botkyrka Stockholm Tartu Malmo Vilnius Gdynia Plock Pruszkow Warsaw Bydgoszcz Rzeszow Bratislava Budapest Iasi Bacau Gijon Langreo Mieres Bilbao Cinisello Balsamo Mira Milan Venice Pavia San Dona di Piave Genoa Savona La Spezia Timisoara Sliven Burgas Stara Zagora Yambol Yerevan Rubi Mataro Terrassa Tirana Skopje Galatsi Amaroussion

32 36 A network of PEOPLE 37 Connecting city experts, decision makers and local stakeholders 219 city experts 28 decision makers 129 local stakeholders Networking is a real plus! It makes it easy to know who to contact in a city and who does well in a particular area. Kerstin Rubenson, Energy strategist/project manager, City of Malmo

33 38 Success stories from partner cities PARTNER CITIES-INFOGRAPHIC EXPAND KNOWLEDGE ENHANCE INTERNAL COOPERATION GROW EXTERNAL COOPERATION IMPROVE POLICY MAKING TAKE ACTION 83% raised their awareness 58% transferred new knowledge to colleagues 64% enriched cooperation with local stakeholders 47% improved energy policies 47% improved existing projects % increased their knowledge 68% improved interdepartmental teamwork 65% increased the number of contacts 61% revitalised managerial structures 50% launched new projects Amaroussion built an effective administration structure to deliver its energy strategy successfully. It improved the cooperation between its interdepartmental SEAP Committee and the different city departments involved in energy-related projects. It established an energy office to coordinate the SEAP work and improved the methodology for monitoring the energy consumption of municipal buildings. It also drew a great deal of inspiration from Sunderland s and Nantes s work for its bike-share scheme and its intelligent parking management project. Amsterdam improved interdepartmental communication and contacts with other Dutch and European cities. The organisation of two CASCADE visits brought together people from different city departments and gave them the chance, especially to new employees, to make new contacts and learn more about each other s work. CASCADE networking activities allowed Amsterdam to meet people from several European cities and make new contacts. In addition, the CASCADE peer advice visits helped the city to further strengthen its cooperation with the Dutch cities of Rotterdam and Utrecht. Birmingham improved its building retrofit programme (BES-Birmingham Energy Savers). Thanks to CASCADE the city realised that public engagement is key to the success of any retrofit scheme. Thus, it put an increased emphasis on community engagement, public communication and information provision in the design of the BES programme. This was also reflected in the contract to procure the BES delivery partner. Requirements for specific posts and responsibilities on local employment and skills development and on local community engagement were set down in the terms of the contract.

34 39 Burgas benefited significantly from CASCADE. It received useful advice on how to improve its integrated urban transport system. It obtained ideas to strengthen the participation of citizens in the planning process and to use new financial tools (e.g. public-private partnerships) to fund its public transport and cycling projects. It also drew a great deal of inspiration from the work undertaken in Nantes. Indeed, Nantes has a well-functioning and efficient urban transport system in place and Burgas got many ideas on ways to improve its own system. It was also inspired by Nantes s cross-cutting way of working. Eindhoven benefited greatly from CASCADE. It upgraded its monitoring methodology and evaluated different paths to achieve its neutral energy 2045 target. It also had the chance to evaluate its own energy savings loan retrofit scheme against Birmingham s scheme and make improvements. The Hamburg Energy Bunker, an old bunker converted into a heat storage facility, was also a great source of inspiration. Eindhoven is now preparing a project of a new biomass-plant inside one of its industrial monuments. The city also improved collaboration with its local stakeholders. Genoa received useful advice to improve its SEAP. Following the recommendations of CASCADE peers, it is trying to improve the cooperation with the port authority and integrate the port s energy strategy into the city s energy planning. Genoa drew a lot of inspiration from Amsterdam s district heating (DH) strategy. The city is planning to extend its DH network and it was of great interest to see how Amsterdam plans to extend its own DH system and how it has involved citizens to shape the city s Structural Vision Genoa was also very interested in the way Gateshead engages its citizens in its energy-efficient retrofit projects. Edinburgh informed and shaped its SEAP and received advice on establishing a city-wide structure to deliver its climate strategy. The Edinburgh SEAP will be subject to a public consultation exercise during the summer of The feedback from CASCADE mentors has already been circulated to key partners in the city and will be considered as part of the ongoing development of the SEAP. In addition, the knowledge shared from CASCADE mentors has benefited members of the Edinburgh Sustainable Development Partnership and will continue to impact positively on their work in the longer term. Gateshead has been motivated by the commitment to climate mitigation demonstrated by other CASCADE cities. It has been enthusiastic about replicating some of the work seen in these cities. For example, Gateshead is thinking to integrate into its CHP District Energy Scheme the Amsterdam heat only policy. This policy mandates connecting to district heating as part of the planning approval in new developments. CASCADE also helped the city to reflect on its own work and reaffirm its energy ambitions. It also strengthened the existing collaboration between Gateshead Council and the Gateshead Housing Company. Gijon acquired numerous ideas. Eindhoven s extensive cycling network and hi-tech bike infrastructure (e.g. underground bike-parking, elevated roundabouts) and Terrassa s bike safety solutions (e.g. signalling dangerous bike intersections) were a great source of inspiration for its cycling projects. Gijon also obtained ideas about social programmes that use energy-efficient retrofit to improve living standards, as well as about ways to engage local stakeholders in the development of its SEAP. Gijon has also improved cooperation with the Asturian Energy Foundation and the Nalon Energy Agency.

35 40 Malmo acquired many new ideas. It learnt more about new financial instruments to fund energy-efficient projects. It discovered new ways to resolve the conflict between selling land at market value and imposing high energy standards to new developments combined with a lower price on land. It also drew inspiration for new methods to deal with the various challenges connected to the production and distribution of sustainable energy. CASCADE was also the driver behind the discussions inside the city administration with regard to the re-establishment of a city-managed energy production facility. Milan acquired new knowledge and improved its working methods. The challenges and difficulties encountered in other cities were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures to be included in its SEAP. For example, when Milan was setting the minimum energy performance requirements to be added to its new building code, it took into consideration Birmingham s experience that showed that standards that are too strict can make the city less attractive to businesses. CASCADE benchmark was useful for Milan as well. The city is planning to use it in the future to evaluate its climate mitigation strategies and projects. Stockholm is quite advanced in energy and climate policies. It has high ambitions and is experienced in strategic planning. However, to achieve its targets, it needs to ensure good collaboration between the different city departments. This is the key learning point from Stockholm s participation in CASCADE. CASCADE was also a chance for Stockholm to make new contacts with other European cities and strengthen existing ones. It helped to further strengthen cooperation with the neighbouring cities of Botkyrka and Solna. Mannheim drew a great deal of inspiration from the communication strategies of other CASCADE cities. It adopted a much more emotional and appealing design concept (i.e. more colour and images of people) for the new brochures of the city s climate mitigation campaign. Following the Malmo and Tampere model, Mannheim is thinking of constructing a housing-exhibition in a former military area to test new energyefficient housing solutions and commit construction companies to building more sustainably. CASCADE was also one of the driving forces behind setting energy standards for new urban quarters in Mannheim. Nantes Metropole (NM) used the CASCADE peer review to acquire a very accurate analysis of its policies and obtain concrete advice. This helped NM to step back from its usual practices and reflect on its mobility policies. Awareness was for instance raised on the opportunities to lever more private funding for its projects and to develop cost-efficient solutions to complement big investments: e.g. cycling. NM also acquired ideas to improve its communication strategy. NM drew a great deal of inspiration for the technical management of its low-traffic zones from Milan s congestion charge system. Sunderland received valuable advice on how to improve its mobility policies. CASCADE peer review was the driver behind commissioning a longterm strategy to promote integrated transport. It was also the platform on which to strengthen the collaboration with the local university. Sunderland was inspired by Warsaw in strengthening the cooperation between the city and local research institutions on electromobility. It is also thinking about following the example of Terrassa and using improvements in the pedestrian and public transport infrastructure as a means to support the regeneration of its city centre. Sunderland also obtained useful information to develop a district heating scheme.

36 41 Tampere had great energy savings but its energy targets were too modest. Although, it decreased its CO 2 emissions by 18% in only two years, it had an unambitious 20% GHG-emissions reduction by 2020 target. CASCADE was one of the driving forces behind doubling this target to 40% by CASCADE was also one of the factors contributing to the extension of the Tampere ECO 2 Project, since it stressed the need for a good coordination structure. It also helped Tampere strengthen the cooperation with the local energy utility and other Finnish and European cities. The new contacts made by the city made it easier to develop new EU-funded projects. Venice joined the Covenant of Mayors at the same time it joined the CASCADE project. The CASCADE benchmark and the experience acquired from the peer review visits in Genoa and Amsterdam helped the city develop a robust and effective SEAP. Venice was inspired by Nantes Metropole and set up an information office to better engage its citizens and local stakeholders in its energy vision. The office opened in May CASCADE was also one of the driving forces behind strengthening interdepartmental cooperation and adopting a more crosscutting working method. Terrassa acquired numerous ideas and much inspiration for its new SUMP It is planning to develop a parking fare system for residents, allow cyclists to ride two-ways in oneway streets and create a low-emission zone. It is also planning to test an alldoor-boarding system in its public buses to increase the travel speed. The CASCADE benchmark helped to improve cooperation between its mobility and environmental departments. As a result, an expert from the environmental department has joined the SUMP team, while the city started exploiting the synergies between its SUMP, SEAP, Air Quality Plan and Noise Plan. Warsaw gained a great deal of valuable experience that it is now using to trigger new projects and investments. The city is trying to improve its communication strategy and establish free advice services for citizens and local stakeholders to enable private investments. It is also planning to increase the use of publicprivate partnerships and experiment new financial tools like energy performance contracting. The creation of pilot lowcarbon areas to test innovative solutions for wide-scale application is also an ambitious CASCADE-inspired plan.

37 42 Success stories from invited cities PARTNER CITIES-INFOGRAPHIC EXPAND KNOWLEDGE ENHANCE INTERNAL COOPERATION GROW EXTERNAL COOPERATION IMPROVE POLICY MAKING TAKE ACTION 88% raised their awareness 92% transferred new knowledge to colleagues 53% enriched cooperation with local stakeholders 69% improved energy policies 42% improved existing projects % increased their knowledge 69% improved interdepartmental teamwork 46% increased the number of contacts 69% revitalised managerial structures 42% launched new projects Bacau is currently running a programme for the modernisation of its district heating system to increase its energy-efficiency and decrease its carbon footprint. It was of great interest to see Stockholm s modern district heating and cooling system and learn more on how the city tries to increase the use of biomass in its CHP plants. It was also very useful to learn more about Stockholm s waste separation system and how the city uses organic waste to produce biogas for transport. Bacau has used the new knowledge and experience acquired in its SEAP (currently under development). Belfast is planning to convert its former landfill into a decentralised energy hub, following the Hamburg-model seen during CASCADE. The city is already generating renewable electricity from biogas on this site. Its future Hamburginspired plan will comprise a CHP facility and a solar PV array producing 6MWh/ year of electricity. The Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster Agency also provided a good case study for Belfast to replicate if it is to develop a low-carbon business cluster and attract such businesses. CASCADE also enabled Belfast to get involved as follower city in a Horizon 2020 Lighthouse project. Bilbao gained useful ideas to address tenants scepticism and promote its energy efficient retrofit projects. As result of the CASCADE visit, Bilbao amended its communication strategy to better emphasise the practical benefits of energy efficient upgrades: e.g. cheaper energy bills and cooler households during summer. It is planning to use satisfied beneficiaries of completed rehabilitation projects to show new clients what can be achieved. It is also going to strengthen its cooperation with the local homeowners associations.

38 43 Bratislava got useful information for its electro-mobility projects. In case of Slovakia, the CO 2 emissions related to electricity consumption are lower than the CO 2 emissions from diesel use and further reductions by 2020 are expected. The city was developing its electromobility strategy at the time of the visit and Warsaw s work was a great source of inspiration. Following the Warsaw-model, Bratislava is planning to introduce electric-buses in its public transport fleet, while a network of electric-vehicle charging stations is underway. Budapest acquired new ideas to further improve its mobility projects. The technologies used and the regulative framework applied in Milan s Area C were a source of inspiration for Budapest s congestion charging system, currently under preparation. The user-friendly technical system and the model of operation of the Milan BikeMi bike-share scheme were useful input for its Budapest twin the MOL-BuBi. In addition, Milan s simple but very effective colour-based park-zoning system was a good idea that Budapest took back home. CASCADE helped Gdynia to make energy a political priority. After the study visit in Malmo, the city established a new department for energy-efficiency in public and private buildings within its administration. It also strengthened the cooperation with the district heating and power utilities, as well as with the neighbouring municipalities of the NORDA Metropolitan Forum of Heads of villages, Provosts, Mayors and Foremen. As a result of CASCADE, Gdynia became more active in the energy field and pursued new opportunities to get involved in energy-related EU-funded projects. Brighton & Hove was very interested in Eindhoven s aquifer thermal storage system. Together with the University of Brighton, which is exploring a similar system, Brighton & Hove will investigate the potential of widely applying this technology. Inspired by Eindhoven, the city is considering the development of a feasibility study to investigate the viability of a CHP plant fuelled by locally produced biomass. Brighton & Hove was also impressed by Eindhoven s Zonatlas software, which demonstrates the solar potential for any building in the city. It is thinking about developing similar tools to promote its energy strategies. Bydgoszcz was very inspired by Gateshead s work. It initiated an energy audit programme for 178 municipal buildings. The audits will be concluded by the end of 2014 and the retrofit works by Following the Gateshead collaborative work model, Bydgoszcz now organises meetings with construction stakeholders to inform them about the new national energy standards for buildings and new building techniques. Furthermore, the city-owned Housing Association is trying to build new partnerships to accumulate knowledge and financial resources for new energyefficient retrofit projects. Although Hamburg is a forerunner when it comes to sustainable building and renewable energy production, it is pursuing transnational cooperation to further improve its strategies and projects. Through its discussions and interactions with other CASCADE cities, Hamburg acquired some useful ideas to improve some of its innovative urban projects and to make better use of the existing local networks. It also gained useful knowledge on how to overcome the scepticism of potential construction partners, as well as on how to satisfy the interests of the various groups and avoid conflicts during implementation.

39 44 Haringey is doing a great job at promoting cycling. It was of great interest to see first-hand how Eindhoven has enabled its citizens to cycle. Although much of Haringey s road network does not have sufficient space to accommodate some of the cycling infrastructure visible in Eindhoven, the city acquired some ideas to change the travel culture of its citizens. Haringey also gained a greater understanding of the role electric vehicles can play in an urban setting. It is planning to progress new initiatives such as promoting electric vehicle use for local businesses and encouraging electric carsharing clubs. Rzeszow aims to significantly increase the deployment of renewable energy, in order to decrease its carbon footprint, improve its energy security and further strengthen its innovation and high-tech manufacturing sector. The innovative ideas Eindhoven applies to promote and facilitate renewable energy investments served as a source of inspiration. The city was particularly interesting in Eindhoven s strategy to increase the local production of solar power from photovoltaic, since solar energy is already very popular in Rzeszow. Sliven drew useful ideas and inspiration from Mannheim. It was of great interest to see how Mannheim involves the citizens and local stakeholders in its energy-efficient retrofit and low-carbon development housing projects. Sliven was also very interested in the free energy advice services that Mannheim was offering to its citizens to enable them to refurbish and improve the energy performance of their houses. Sliven is going to use the new knowledge gained to increase the energy-efficient retrofit of private houses in its territory. Iasi started developing a long-term energy-efficiency strategy that will act as a framework for its individual projects. It is currently investigating the energy saving potential of the different sectors and measures to set achievable targets and establish an effective strategic action plan. Thus, it is trying to upgrade its data collection and analysis methods and to develop a methodology similar to the one used in Gateshead. Iasi also became more ambitious and started planning new projects: e.g. retrofit of municipal buildings and installation of renewable energy systems. Skopje acquired plenty of new ideas from Malmo to improve its energy policies. As a result of the visit, it started improving its cycling infrastructure. It is renovating and extending its cycling network and is planning to establish a bike-sharing system. Skopje is also planning to integrate energy efficiency aspects into its urban plan and conduct a feasibility study for deploying renewables in the city. It has also ambitious plans to introduce electro-mobility. In addition, it is thinking of following Malmo s waste management model and using the food and non-recyclable wastes for biogas and energy production. Tallinn has great plans to reduce its share of natural gas usage. It is going to construct new biomass-fuelled CHP plants and extend its district heating network. It was of great interest to see first hand Amsterdam s plans to increase district heating and reduce the use of natural gas. The idea of installing heat pump systems and using Amsterdam s water channels as a heat source/sink was also a source of inspiration. As a coastal city, Tallinn can apply similar systems using seawater as heat source/sink. The visit also offered Tallinn new ideas for its SEAP and the opportunity to make new contacts.

40 45 Tartu aims to increase significantly the share of public transport and nonmotorised transport in its modal split by The visit to Terrassa was a source of ideas on how to improve its public transport system (e.g. bus lanes) and enhance its cycling infrastructure. Following the example of Terrassa, Tartu placed barriers to prevent cars from parking on the pavements and entering pedestrian zones. It also improved pedestrian safety conditions by installing physical barriers between the pavements and the roadways at schools and by constructing raised or stone-paved pedestrian-crossings. Tirana acquired some useful ideas for its public transport projects. The city is trying to increase the modal share of public transport and it is planning to construct three tram lines. Warsaw s high-quality integrated public transport system and its work for the modernisation and extension of its tram network were a great source of inspiration for Tirana. Tirana was also very interested in Warsaw s electro-mobility projects and it is thinking of using electric-vehicles in its car-rental system. The city obtained many interesting ideas for its sustainable urban mobility plan as well. Yerevan acquired new ideas to further improve its cycling projects. Eindhoven s extensive cycling network and high quality cycling infrastructure (e.g. underground bike-parking facilities, elevated bike-roundabouts), was a source of inspiration for Yerevan s cycling infrastructure project currently under development. Eindhoven s work on electro-mobility was of great interest as well. Yerevan is already using electricity to power its trolley-buses and is interested in the idea of further promoting the use of electricity in transport. Timisoara is ambitious when it comes to energy-efficient retrofit. It is going to retrofit 100 blocks of flats this year and it has plans for its own buildings. The CASCADE visit to Mannheim was a source of ideas to further improve its retrofit projects. The Mannheim model of developing projects in cooperation with constructors and citizens is also something to replicate in Timisoara. In addition, the city took useful information for its SEAP, especially with regard to the collection and monitoring of energy data. This knowledge was used as input to the ISO Energy Management System to be implemented in the municipal buildings. Vilnius has ambitious plans when it comes to reducing the carbon footprint of its building stock. In 2005, it put into action a large-scale retrofit programme, which aims to improve the energyefficiency of 3,600 buildings. It was of great interest to see the innovative methods implemented by Hamburg to build low- and zero-energy houses. As a result of CASCADE, Vilnius organised a conference to promote the construction of passive and self-efficient buildings. Vilnius also obtained useful ideas to increase the local production of renewable energy, which were integrated into its Renewable Energy Action Plan.