Women-led LIFE projects champion more effective energy and climate planning

Cities consume 78% of the world's energy, placing local and regional authorities on the front line of the clean energy transition. However, transforming ambitions into concrete local actions requires specialised planning tools - resources that some still lack.

Two LIFE-funded projects, PLAN4CET and IN-PLAN, both led by women, are tackling this challenge by providing the expertise and resources to implement more effective local climate planning.

"The goal of the IN-PLAN project is to integrate energy and climate measures into spatial plans, and that way make them binding by law," said Project Coordinator Simona Tršinar on International Women's Day, adding that this allows IN-PLAN to bridge the divide between climate goals and local development.

The LIFE project provides a 'cookbook' for integrated spatial planning, which allows municipalities to select and adapt tried-and-tested methodologies to their specific regional conditions. This can include mandating green infrastructure in certain areas, excluding fossil-fuel heat production in designated urban zones, and reallocating road space for bidirectional cycle tracks and permeable surfaces to support natural cooling.

By scaling a pilot from Karlovac, Croatia, across five other EU countries, Simona says IN-PLAN has already demonstrated how spatial planning tools can transform political will into legislation embedded and implemented at the local and regional levels.

In parallel, PLAN4CET has focused on strengthening governance for more effective energy and climate planning in different regions, including in Navarra (Spain), Skåne (Sweden) and Emilia-Romagna (Italy). "PLAN4CET has improved the coordination among different actors [in these regions] and made this a collective effort," said Maider Arregui Osés, the project coordinator from the government of Navarra.

The project's newly launched 'Clean Energy Transition Toolbox ' also offers open-access methodologies, training materials and governance models to help other regions navigate technical and political hurdles - from mapping local energy potential to digital tools that model low-carbon pathways.

To support effective planning, the platform is structured around three profiles - the transition expert, transition manager and zero-carbon community manager. The project guides these individuals, from engaged citizens to decision-makers, towards the resources most relevant to their specific responsibilities in the green transition. Maider says the project enabled cross-border "collaboration with other regions" that wouldn't have happened otherwise, which further facilitated the exchange of best practices for better climate planning.

By bridging the gap between high-level policy and local law, PLAN4CET and IN-PLAN can help turn sustainable aspiration into a reality on the ground. They also showcase women-led action that supports the delivery of critical policies, including the European Climate Law and EU Energy Efficiency Directive.