BEACON

To successfully implement the Paris Agreement and the European climate and energy targets for the year 2030 and beyond, climate action needs to be enhanced on all relevant levels of governance. National governments need to create effective policies and framework conditions.

A crucial contribution to the achievement of the EU climate protection goals will be made by municipalities and local actors. These stakeholders can be pioneers and drivers of profound decarbonisation and social transformation processes as their actions have considerable potential for increasing energy efficiency and saving greenhouse gases. Schools and other educational institutions in particular can play a key role by reducing their own energy consumption but also educating future generations for a climate-friendly world.

Bridging European and Local Climate Action (BEACON) is a three-year project promoting climate action and facilitating an exchange between national governments as well as municipalities and schools in Europe. The aim of the project is to strengthen bi- and multilateral cooperation and create common ambition to realise the Paris Agreement. Through joint learning, networking and tailored advisory services, policy-makers, municipal actors and educators will gain technical and process-related skills that help them develop, refine and implement measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Good practices of successful emission reduction measures will be disseminated based on an EU-wide analysis of successful national climate protection instruments with a focus on the buildings, transport, small industrial installations and agriculture sectors. Furthermore, good practice on the local level will be identified and shared in a network with regular meetings of 34 municipalities from the Czech Republic, Romania, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Germany. Back home participating municipalities will receive technical support and on-the-job coaching for transferring good practices and successfully implementing them in their local context. Furthermore, five city partnerships on climate action will be promoted within the network.

To increase awareness about climate change and action on the individual level, educational institutions in the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria and Germany will be involved in the project. The project team will analyse school curricula and climate action in existing educational programs, develop incentive models for energy saving and energy saving action plans in schools, as well as conduct workshops, trainings and study tours to Germany for educators from participating schools in partner countries.

Target Groups

municipalities, educational institutions, national governments

The European Climate Initiative (EUKI) is a project financing instrument by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). Its implementation is supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.