Local heating and cooling plans in South European cities

Extended abstract 3-291-26

Sustainable Local Heating and Cooling Plans (SLHCPs) are a novel planning instrument to steer the decarbonization of local heating and cooling (H&C) systems, prompted by the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). This is an ambitious goal, especially for South European authorities who face critical challenges, decentralized and low performing heating systems, inefficient buildings, increasing cooling needs and low financial availability. Plan4COLD methodology is a practical approach developed under the LIFE23-CET-Plan4COLD project to support municipalities in preparing SLHCPs aligned with Article 25 of the EED and related provisions in the Renewable Energy and Energy Performance Buildings Directives.

The methodology is structured into five phases: Prepare the ground, Baseline assessment, SLHCP strategy and development, Roadmap and implementation, and Monitoring:

1. Political commitment, dedicated governance structures, and early engagement of stakeholders and citizens, as preconditions for credible and durable strategies. It requires extensive context review to identify synergies and ensure consistency across governance levels.
2. Data collection phase, that allows an evaluation of where the H&C system stands, identifying the energy demand, supply and emissions inventory, and assessing climate risks and vulnerabilities such as energy poverty.
3. Integrated perspective focusing in three dimensions: urban planning, buildings and infrastructure, and behaviour change. The guiding principle is “energy efficiency first”: reduce H&C needs, serve remaining needs more efficiently, and decarbonise supply through renewable energy. In this phase a portfolio of measures is assessed and evaluated, building the vision for the decarbonisation of the local H&C system.
4. A governance-oriented framework, translating the vision and measures into a Roadmap, including responsibilities, timeline, and budget. This renders into a locally anchored portfolio of measures, from planning instruments to regulatory and financial incentives and enabling actions that activate all dimensions.
5. The KPIs are defined as well as the feedback loops timings to assess progress, impacts and shortcomings and periodically update the SLHCP.

The Plan4COLD methodology demonstrates how EU‑level obligations on local H&C planning can be translated into actionable municipal policies, strengthening multi‑level governance and accelerating the energy transition.

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