From planning to implementation: For over a year, we support selected municipalities in the development of practical, broad-based strategies for the local heating transition in municipal development councils.
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Municipal heating planning is a central building block on the path to climate neutrality by 2045. It enables cities and municipalities to consistently organise their future heat supply in a climate-neutral way, develop the local energy infrastructure in a targeted manner and create planning and investment security for the coming decades.
However, heat planning also poses major challenges for smaller municipalities in particular. By 2028, all cities with up to 100,000 inhabitants must complete their heat planning, fulfil legal requirements, secure funding and pool the various local interests.
There are important political and social issues behind heat planningHow can heating remain affordable for everyone? Are the technologies sustainable? How do investments affect different neighbourhoods? How are different interests weighed up against each other? If these questions are not addressed through dialogue, there will be a lack of trust, understanding and, later on, the necessary cooperation.
The early involvement of citizens and local stakeholders has been proven in studies as decisive for the acceptance of the local heating transition and thus also of the municipal heating plan. Because one thing is clear: the transformation entails costs for everyone. This makes it all the more important to communicate transparently about what is being implemented and when, what costs will be incurred and what goals are being pursued.
However, conventional participation formats often reach their limits here. They often only serve as an information event for citizens or as an opportunity to provide feedback without actively addressing social conflict issues. This can lead to resistance in the medium term and make implementation more difficult.
We therefore utilise the proven participation approach of Municipal development councils also in the area of heat planning. This from Prof. Dr. Gesine Schwan The award-winning format developed by the Berlin Governance Platform and its team brings together local politicians and administrators with stakeholders from local businesses and civil society. In a moderated process over several meetings, discussions take place, interests are negotiated and a consensus paper with concrete recommendations is adopted at the end.
With the support of the Michael Otto Foundation for Sustainability and the Mercator Foundation, we are supporting four committed municipalities in designing their own heating plan in a participatory manner from start to finish over the course of a year. In this process, the municipal development councils work together with our support to develop innovative, practical solutions that are precisely tailored to local needs. In this way, the heat transition becomes a joint, solvable task in the municipality.
Municipal Development Councils (KEBs) bring together representatives from politics and administration with local businesses and civil society. In a moderated process, they work together to develop consensus-orientated recommendations on a specific municipal issue. The format works: Recommendations have already been adopted and implemented in ten municipalities. Now the format is also set to advance municipal heat planning.
Insights & experiences of previous KEB municipalities
1. Inform
In two info sessions, we will present the project in detail and offer space for questions and dialogue. Our team will also be available to answer individual questions.
Book & register now:
Info sessions via Zoom
21.10.2025︱1 pm
30.10.2025︱10 am
2. Apply
To apply, please complete a short online form. We will ask you to provide some general information about your municipality as well as your experience and motivation so that we can select the participating municipalities in the best possible way.
The deadline for submitting your application is 09 November 2025.
3. Selection
An expert jury selects the four pilot municipalities from all applications. Decisive factors for this are the motivation and commitment of the municipality as well as structural factors such as available personnel resources and the organisational scope of the advisory board. We also emphasise diversity in order to bring together different municipalities that benefit from a joint exchange.
4. Feedback & project start
You can expect our response to your application as early as November. The selected municipalities will start the pilot round "Municipal development councils for heat planning" together with us and the process facilitators as early as the beginning of 2026, after the corresponding resolutions have been passed in the municipal parliaments.
Participation is open to All German municipalities - regardless of size or structure -who plan their heating in a participatory procedures want to organise. Whether an individual municipality or a merger in the so-called Convoy procedureThe decisive factor is the willingness to work together in a spirit of trust and openness to innovative participation processes.
If your municipality has already taken the first steps towards heat planning, it can only participate in the project if it has not yet completed the potential analysis and has not yet started to develop a target scenario. In this way, we ensure that Sufficient scope for genuine participation of all selected actors is given.
Participation as a pilot municipality brings concrete advantages:
As a participating municipality, you will receive a Comprehensive support by the experienced Project team of the Berlin Governance Platform and Qualified process supportthat support the entire heat planning process. You can get an initial overview of this from the 🔗 exemplary schedule which briefly outlines the steps we have taken.
We accompany you in all phases - from the Concept about the Moderation of participation formats up to the Conflict managementshould tensions arise during the ongoing process. This is why our process facilitators are specially trained to pick up on these conflicts at an early stage and find a solution. Room for constructive solutions to create.
A structured process plan shows how legal requirements and Good culture of participation with each other - with the aim of Sustainable recommendations for your heat planning that are technically sound and widely accepted.
For the participation process to succeed, it needs above all
The project costs for the implementation of a municipal development council amount to around 130,000 euros per municipality. Our funding partners - the Mercator Foundation and the Michael Otto Foundation for Sustainability - about 100,000 euros.
The municipal contribution is therefore 30,000 euros.
All services are included in this contribution: From process support and training for local moderators to methodological and content-related support throughout the entire heat planning process.
Within the scope of heat planning, there are various Federal and state funding programmes. It is best to find out from the relevant local authorities whether you can make use of these support programmes to cover the local authority's own contribution to the project.
The pilot project of the municipal development councils for municipal heat planning is supported by the Michael Otto Foundation for Sustainability and the Mercator Foundation.
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Our newsletter provides you with all the important news on the pilot round of municipal heat planning, gives you impulses on democracy and participation from the network and provides you with insights and experiences from the CEF municipalities.
