With over 70% of EU citizens expected to live in urban areas by 2030, municipalities will play a fundamental role in accelerating climate action across the European Union. Unfortunately, when it comes to climate and energy action and targets, the sub-national level has so far been receiving little attention.

In this context, the LIFE Unify consortium publishes today “Planning climate action at the local level. Lessons Learned on developing and implementing SECAPs from the LIFE Unify Project“.

This briefing takes stock of the experience acquired by LIFE Unify partners working at the local level on Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans, or SECAPs. It summarises main findings and trends identified in five EU Member States—Czechia, France, Poland, Slovenia, and Spain—over a period of two years (2019-2021).

The approaches and work methods differ among the involved partners, as do the local realities—in terms of skills, obligations, resources and obstacles. Nonetheless, this document suggests some ways forward to accelerate local climate action, including:

  • Increased institutional support to municipalities, especially from the national level
  • More involvement of all political parties as well as increased public participation
  • Adequate and consistent funding through established financial instruments, especially relevant for small municipal units

To know more, please download the report here.