Communities across Europe are key to making the European Green Deal work, but a central question is: how? That question, and the pursuit of the answers, guide the new online event series Local actions for a SHARED GREEN DEAL.
Through a blend of the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) perspectives, the series aims to address how local involvement can significantly contribute to the Green Deal's success, focussed specifically around the streams of biodiversity, mobility, energy, food, renovations and circularity, addressing the often overlooked level between individuals and governments. Organised by the SHARED GREEN DEAL, of which ICLEI is a partner organisation, the project's core goal is to stimulate shared actions on Green Deal initiatives across Europe by providing SSH tools to support the implementation of eight EU Green Deal policy areas at the local and regional level.
Scheduled from 14 March-28 May 2024, the series offers insights from Social Sciences and Humanities on aligning European ambitions with community actions. It presents lessons learned from 24 local community experiments, supported by leading universities and a broad range of European networks, illustrating the collective effort required to forge a sustainable future.
The series will encompass six online sessions of 90 minutes, each dedicated to a unique topic:
- Diversity of values for countering biodiversity loss: Discover the connection between biodiversity and cultural values in European communities, and how that can help reconcile the disconnect that, seemingly, most Europeans experience from their local biodiversity (14 March)
- Accelerating sustainable mobility with future generations: Engage with the creation of urban mobility solutions co-designed with future generations, highlighting the (possible) role of youth in sustainable policy making (25 March)
- Community visioning for a clean energy future across Europe: Explore how communities can envision and transition towards desirable energy futures, featuring creative techniques for imagining clean energy scenarios (10 April)
- Sustainable food: tastes best when shared!: Dive into the future of Europe's food system, showcasing sustainable innovations and how they contribute to a more resilient and environmentally conscious food system. (24 April)
- Growing community knowledge for energy efficient home renovations: Witness the exchange of know-how between citizens and professionals to achieve impactful energy efficiency renovations. (3 May)
- Sparking business innovation in circular economy for textiles and buildings: Learn about fostering local business innovation and circular business models in textiles and construction. (28 May)
Each session aims to foster knowledge transfer, harness collective experience, and support action on the ground and in EU policies. Join the series, or any individual session, and learn about the local implementation of the European Green Deal initiatives.
Learn more about the SHARED GREEN DEAL here.