SE(C)APs: From municipal planning to concrete action

Despite their important their role in the transition from a ‘conventional’ to a low-carbon society, municipalities face a lot of challenges on the way. The energy and climate actions set in Sustainable Energy (and Climate) Action Plans (SEAPs or SECAP) are an important step to move forward. Nevertheless in some municipalities it seems to be the end of the road or only really low hanging fruits are picked.

In this paper we analysed with interviews of local stakeholders what hinders the municipalities to implement SE(C)AP actions and found several stages of barriers beginning from stakeholders themselves over financing issues and participatory processes. First of all we draw a general picture of the Implementation process of SE(C)AP measures and found barriers all along the way. One important result was the integration of climate and energy issues in the municipal decision structure. Some of the barriers can already be addressed in the course of the PATH2LC project (despite the special challenge in the project of the pandemic situation).