In 2020 and 2021, the Energiewende Partnerstadt project accompanied a total of ten European municipalities in five city pairs in their progress towards the local energy transition and contributed to an exchange across national borders. The final conference on March 25, 2021 was scheduled to take place in Berlin, but had to be postponed again and again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and finally moved entirely to digital space. In the meantime, a film has been made (see below) about why municipalities and European cooperation are so important for the success of the energy transition.
The aim of the "Energiewende PartnerStadt" project was to exchange know-how and experience on local energy transition across national borders, to facilitate technology transfer in the field of renewable energies and to support cohesion in Europe.
Our thanks go to the representatives of the twin towns Alheim (DE)/ Dunleer (IRL), Braunsbedra (DE)/ Kozani (GR), Marburg (DE)/ Koscierzyna (PL), Pfaffenhofen (DE)/ Galway (IRL) and Steinhagen (DE)/ Woerden (NL), the German Foreign Office and the Ellery Studio, who inspired this film. Phasing out coal, transforming the energy system, climate education of children and youth, citizen dialogues, energy cooperatives – all these and many more topics were discussed in the European exchange project. We hope that the film will inspire other partner cities to take joint initiatives for the energy transition, to identify common points of contact and synergies, and thus to contribute to joint learning about the energy transition and European understanding.
The Energy Transition Partner City project, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, ran as a cooperation between the Berlin Governance Platform and the Renewable Energy Agency. As practice partners, the Association of Municipal Enterprises (VKU) and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities (DGStB) supported the project activities, which aim to strengthen the exchange of knowledge and technology between German and European municipalities through bilateral workshops and multilateral online meetings as well as kick-off and final conferences.