Litoměřice, the next Czech post-carbon city

While it has traditionally been relying on coal combustion for most of its energy use, the city is now taking steps towards a low-carbon future.

Our member city of Litoměřice (CZ) hosted two workshops on visioning and backcasting in November and December 2014. In total, these workshops are conducted in 8 European case study cities throughout the duration of the European 7FP project POCACITO (POst-CArbon CIties of TOmorrow).


«  Litoměřice náměstí 3  » by Karelj, public domain

Litoměřice (24,388 inhabitants) is located in the Northern Bohemia region on the Elbe River. Nicknamed “Garden of Bohemia”, the city has been an artistic and cultural centre for centuries. Formerly a port town, the city has transitioned to a service and commerce economy. While it has traditionally been relying on coal combustion for most of its energy use, the city is now taking steps towards a low-carbon future. Litoměřice is striving to reduce air pollution and to become energy independent based on renewable energy sources. To reach this objective, the city council has started implementing a number of measures and plans since 2000. Litoměřice’s approach to the local energy transition is twofold. It consists of incentives for RES such as small-scale renewable energy applications or large investment in geothermal heat and energy production on the one hand, and on realizing energy savings based on the Municipal Energy Plan 2030 on the other.

To promote the sustainable energy approach, the city of Litoměřice together with other Czech cities Chrudim, Kopřivnice and the district of Brno-Nový Lískovec set up a municipal energy manager associationon 24 October 2014.

Since 2011, the city of Litoměřice achieved savings of 300.000€ due to energy efficiency and RES projects. These savings are invested back into energy savings through the Municipal Energy Saving Fund. Thereby, since 2014, the saved money triggers investments, decreases operational costs, stays in the region and will, in the end, increase the citizen´s quality of life.

Further information :

See Litoměřice profile on the POCACITO website, where you can also download the first outputs of the project, including a report on “Good city practices inventory”.

Read two case studies on Litoměřice :

Towards 100% RES with geothermal energy (Case study by Karel Merhaut, RES Champions league)

Litoměřice, the solar garden of Bohemia (Case study by Jiri Dvorak, RES Champions League)