CLR Participates in Smart Cities Marketplace Webinar Energy Communities & District Heating: A Practical Guide for Municipalities

On 21 May 2025, the webinar “Energy Communities & District Heating: A Practical Guide for Municipalities” was organised by the Smart Cities Marketplace, in collaboration with DG ENER and other EU-level partners. The Citizen-Led Renovation (CLR) Initiative was represented by Orestis Kouloulas from Th!nk E (for Phases I and II), and Élodie Bossio from FEDARENE (for Phase III).

During the plenary session “The fil rouge of EU initiatives supporting energy communities”, the CLR project was briefly introduced, highlighting its unique role in shifting the renovation paradigm from top-down to bottom-up. The presentation emphasised how CLR empowers local energy communities to design and manage their own renovation strategies, with tailored support ranging from technical and legal guidance to capacity building and forward-looking planning.

In the dedicated breakout session (Room C: Citizen-led renovation – lessons learnt and upcoming national support), a more in-depth presentation of CLR Phases I and II followed. Phase I was presented as a learning phase, supporting four diverse communities in testing citizen-led renovation models. Phase II is now focused on scaling up, with six new pilots receiving targeted support across three main pathways: expanding local services, developing tools, and integrating CLR approaches into broader strategies. The session also reflected on the key lessons learnt from Phase I, offering insights into how future support can be better aligned with community needs. The presentation concluded with an outlook on Phase III, which will focus on creating national and regional support networks to further embed citizen-led renovation across Europe.

This event was part of a broader EU effort to make building renovation more inclusive, community-driven, and responsive to local realities.