Planning the Energy and Climate Transition for Cities
Learn how to turn your green transition goals into long-term sustainable strategies and actions
Local governance
Fossil-free cities
Community energy
Food systems
Fair economiesAbout
How can you lead your city towards a just and sustainable future?
The new, free SPARKLE online training, Planning the Energy and Climate Transition for Cities, will enable you to combine energy transition, climate resilience, and circular economy goals with actionable strategies. Practical tools and real-world examples will equip and inspire you throughout a three-course learning journey.
By enrolling in the full training, civil servants, planners, and technical staff will learn to assess and improve current climate plans using the IN-PLAN framework, develop transition teams, build actionable roadmaps, and foster cross-departmental collaboration using data-driven tools, such as the European City Calculator, to maximise efficiencies and impact.
Videos, case studies, and interactive exercises will engage you in an inspiring journey. After successfully completing each course you’ll receive a certificate. By completing at least 2 courses of your choice, you’ll be eligible to apply for a scholarship to cover your travel and accommodation needs to join one of our in person summer schools planned in the five SPARKLE cities from March to June 2026.
Integrated energy and climate transition planning
If you are looking to shape the future of your territory and want to align planning with energy transition, climate resilience, and circular economy objectives, this course is for you.
Through five practical and interactive modules, you’ll explore how to embed energy and climate priorities into spatial planning processes, leverage data and cross-sectoral collaboration, and develop integrated plans tailored to your local context. At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
• Understand why integrated planning is essential to address today’s energy and climate challenges.
• Identify how to incorporate renewable energy, energy efficiency, and heating/cooling into spatial plans.
• Learn how to plan for floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related risks.
• Explore how to embed circularity into your planning strategies.
• Design and implement an integrated planning process from start to finish.
Data for a clean energy transition
Whether you’re just starting to structure a city’s climate action plan or refining pathways toward net zero, this course will help you make data a strategic tool that guides better decisions, builds credibility, and accelerates impact.
Over four practical modules, you will understand why data is essential for setting credible climate objectives, how to establish baselines and model future trajectories, and how to select and process the right types of data for your city’s needs. More specifically, you’ll learn to:
- Identify and evaluate the most relevant data sources for urban, climate and energy planning.
- Create emissions baselines and define realistic, science-aligned climate targets.
- Clean, compile, and process data to inform decisions and model future scenarios.
- Collaborate with data providers and improve access to technical and operational data.
- Communicate data effectively to engage citizens and build support for climate action.
Transition Management: a process for co-creating transformative change
What is transition management and how can it support your city’s ambition to become just and climate-neutral?
This micro-course sets the ground for understanding and applying transition management in cities. Inspiring case studies from all over Europe will show you how this is a robust approach for transformative and participatory urban planning towards sustainability. At the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
• Understand the principles of transition management and how they differ from traditional planning.
• Map systems and identify key actors to identify leverage points for change.
• Co-create long-term visions and back-cast to define concrete steps.
• Set up transition teams and arenas to foster inclusive dialogue.
• Design and support experiments that contribute to systemic transformation.
This course will be available from mid-July, but you can already register to attend it!
Start learning today – Building future-proof cities is possible if we learn and work together!
