What’s Hub Doc?

We, at Energy Cities, are driven by a desire to strengthen the role and skills of local governments. In an effort to constantly improve our work, we will offer our members the possibility to join and contribute to 5 thematic Hubs, starting from April! We will launch our Hubs during our Annual Forum, watch this space in the coming weeks to find out more! 

How to keep on doing what we are good at, but even better?

The Energy Cities Hubs will help us achieve our target impacts and goals by: 

• activating local leaders to deliver living spaces that are accessible to everyone  
• empowering local communities to decide on their own future  
• inspiring a learning community of cities engaged in future-proofing their economies 

We have identified 5 action-oriented Hubs around which we will organise all future activities: 

• Future-proof local governance 

Inspiring cities to test new governance compasses by setting up long-term local partnerships to transform the local “ecosystem” and trying new participatory processes to make decisions on local investment. 

• Fossil free districts and buildings 

Coordinating efforts to improve financial, technical and human capacities for cities. Exploring local/national legislation and public actions to trigger the decarbonisation of the energy system. 

• Community-led energy for massive renewable production

Providing cities with tools to increase renewable installations owned by cities and their inhabitants. 

• Future-proof food systems and land policies 

Providing cities with inspiration and exchange opportunities to foster cross-sectoral learning and cross-fertilise different policy areas. Exploring ways and strategies to build new territorial solidarity through land and food policies.   

• Resource-wise and socially just local economies

Inspiring cities with alternatives and new narratives for rethinking local social and economic models based on local resources, while ensuring solidarity and equity. 

For each Hub, we will provide four types of activities to our members:

• What’s EUp to ensure that our members are up to date and informed about the latest EU policy development. Our What’s EUp programme delivers policy briefs for local policy makers with key update on major EU policy files linked with each Hub. 
• Mayors’ Voices to foster an atmosphere of mutual trust in the dialogue between citizens, local leaders, EU and national authorities. Via the Mayors’ Voices we organise discussions with key EU policy makers on concrete proposals in support of cities’ climate transition  
• Transition Leaders Programme to encourage our members to go the extra mile! The Transition Leaders Programme is designed to provide our members with trainings, coaching, tools and peer-to-peer exchanges to facilitate their transition journey.  
• Marketplace to facilitate our members access to EU funding. We organise info sessions, matchmaking events and project ideas labs for our members on a regular basis. We also run competitive calls for funding on specific topics. 

Ready to embark on this new adventure? 

As our member, you can join and benefit free-of-charge from these five Hubs, aligned with our intervention systems and impact targets. By joining our Hubs, you become part of our learning community of practitioners with different backgrounds, including technical expertise, municipal administration and political representatives, all sharing the same vision: reaching climate neutrality by 2050. Want to be the first to know about the Hubs’ launch? Get in touch to let us know what Hub(s) you’re interested in. We will keep you posted in the coming weeks.