European Union aims to become the world’s first climate neutral territory. To achieve this goal, action is needed at all levels, including the local one. More than half of Europe’s urban population lives in small and medium-sized cities, which have a key role to play in reducing greenhouse gases emissions. Local governments become more and more committed to climate action, however often they have limited staff capacity, restricted financial resources and knowledge gaps that hamper ambitious, coordinated local efforts to become more climate friendly.
On the other hand, it is important to show how beneficial for all parties is regular contact and collaboration between regional/local authorities and for example university community. Universities and post-secondary schools educating more and more young adults in pro-environmental topics. This is the future of every small and large city, as they will be the new qualified people on the local job market who will act in the area of energy, environment, etc.
Development, successful implementation and monitoring of any regional and local strategy requires a lot of data that are often difficult to gather by public authorities themselves (e.g. due to limited human resources, lack of knowledge on how to design the data collection methodology and process, etc.). Therefore universities can be an important data providers and can support public authorities in relevant research. Initiating common research projects, that on one hand would support the city with the necessary data and on the other help students to increase their knowledge and capacities could be an interesting activity involving various city representatives. Local long-term climate neutrality strategies are documents at which the university's support would be invaluable.
A good example of this is the project in Europe - S3UNICA: Smart Specialization University Campus project aims at emphasizing the role of Universities in regional innovation policies, by providing specialist research and technical expertise in the field of energy sustainable buildings and by offering campuses as a hands-on lab where to implement these innovative solutions. Universities involved in the project can contribute to regional knowledge exchange and its translation into innovative energy products, solutions and public/private services. The project is also expected to contribute to a broader involvement of universities in the development and implementation of regional and local innovation strategies, including by conducting specialized research, providing expert knowledge and using university buildings as laboratories where new solutions are tested.
We invite you to read the Action Plans developed by five European countries, which provide concrete examples of how the educational community, universities and students can be involved in the development of local policy instruments. You can find more here: https://projects2014-2020.interregeurope.eu/s3unica/action-plans/.