PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
As a low-lying country, Denmark is extremely vulnerable to climate change. Its major cities are situated along its coastline, exposing 2.4 million inhabitants (out of 5.9 million) to sea level rises and storm surges. 29% of Denmark is exposed to rising subsurface water, and the country is also affected by heavy rains and river flooding. In 2022, the impact of heat and drought was also added to the national risk assessment and is expected to pose an increasing threat.
In addition, Denmark produces high levels of emissions (45 515 kilo tonnes (kt), according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2021) from the agriculture and land use, transport and energy sectors. Despite high ambitions, studies into climate mitigation in Denmark have cast doubts about the viability of achieving the national 2030 target of 70% emissions reduction and several analyses have demonstrated the need for additional municipal action if the 2050 targets are to be met.
This combined situation calls for immediate action aimed at building long-term and much more robust climate resilience. By 2024, all Danish municipalities had adopted Local Climate Action Plans (LCAPs), focusing on the transition to a climate-neutral and climate-resilient society before 2050. The LCAPs focus on introducing measures for climate change mitigation (CCM), climate change adaptation (CCA), and on creating synergies between CCM and CCM as well as enhancing their added value.
However, the LCAPs also identify several major barriers that are hindering the uptake of CCM and CCA measures. These are linked to the intrinsic nature of climate action which is highly complex, and often requires systemic changes. Barriers to the full implementation of the LCAPs themselves are linked to governance, lack of finance, the difficulty of engaging civil society and building capacity at municipal level, as well as technological, innovation and research issues.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the LIFE Action for Climate Transition (LIFE ACT) project is to catalyse an accelerated nationwide implementation of the LCAPs through a coherent set of measures to achieve climate neutrality and climate-resilience by 2050 - climate resilience being municipalities’ ability to withstand and cope with the impact of climate change in a sustainable, fair and democratic manner with minimal damage to societal well-being, the economy or the environment.
The project will play a pivotal role in strengthening CCM and CCA management, help to build capacity and setup a solid governance model involving the relevant competent authorities and stakeholders at local, regional and national levels. LIFE ACT will directly target the LCAPs of 27 municipalities, including around 300 employees.
The project’s specific objectives are listed below:
- To accelerate the implementation of the 27 LCAPs and improve the quality of climate action measures, i.e., mainstream climate action across sectors, reap inter-municipal benefits, and ensure synergies and values are added with due respect for a just transition. This will be done by removing barriers, consolidating inter-municipal benefits, establishing synergies and added values between CCM, CCA and other areas relevant to climate action, mainstreaming CCM and CCA into relevant municipal plans, and applying best available technology (BAT) in the LCAPs.
- To provide capacity building for municipalities in CCM and CCA planning, building and retaining a solid governance structure and ensuring that municipal staff is upskilled in emerging climate practices to address future climate action needs. This will include introducing novel methods of stakeholder and citizen engagement, and the use of data, digitalisation and tools to inform decision-making and improve the implementation of CCM and CCA actions.
- To solve complex climate issues through multiple helix partnerships of all relevant stakeholders (including local politicians) to increase the level of knowledge and address conflicts of interest, thereby obtaining a better understanding of the impacts of climate change to allow knowledge-based decision-making, and generating citizens’ awareness of their own responsibilities and options for action related to CCM and CCA.
RESULTS
The project’s expected results are:
- acceleration of the implementation of the LCAPs of the 27 municipalities
- replication of best practices in 71 municipalities outside of the LIFE ACT project
- enhancement of the governmental structures of the 27 municipalities
- enhancement of the governmental structures of 71 municipalities outside LIFE ACT
- significant improvement of the application of the newest data, methods and technology by the municipalities and the stakeholders involved
- 71 municipalities outside the project benefit from the LIFE ACT results, improving the inter-municipal and multi-level governance structures as well as the regulatory framework of climate change
- engagement of all 98 Danish municipalities, and all 5 relevant national agencies - a total of 12 knowledge institutions and 649 politicians - with an additional impact on at least 2.5 million Danish citizens
- at least € 211 million of complementary funding raised for LCAP implementation
- reduction of 65% of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2030, compared to the DK2020 base year (2018, 2019, 2020), in the 27 LIFE ACT municipalities
- reduction of 75% CO2e in 2030, according to the base year of 1990, achieved by the 27 LIFE municipal beneficiaries
- over 2 900 km (30%) of Danish coastline is climate-resilient by the project end
- at least 50% of the actions in the LCAPs dealing with construction based on processes and analysis of physical construction projects following BAT
- all 21 project tasks bring about an added value for at least 2 other areas such as health, nature, biodiversity, social equality and just transition
- mainstreaming of CCM and CCA into the 27 municipal spatial plans (present and future) and at least 3 sector plans per municipality
- integration of innovation and just transition into LIFE ACT best practices
- establishment of an organisation for the implementation of the LCAPs, including a climate team or a project organisation with a steering committee, working groups and project management, in the 27 municipalities
- at least 50 municipal officials skilfully manage climate planning as a cross-sectoral issue and understand and apply climate data for improved decision-making
- all 98 Danish municipalities are invited to capacity-building activities, resulting in at least 50 municipal climate officials within LIFE ACT and an additional 180 climate officials outside LIFE ACT with enhanced skills related to the LCAP project management and innovative stakeholder involvement methods
- development, improvement or adoption of at least 20 decision support tools and methods (of which about 10 are digital), including novel citizen and stakeholder engagement methods, and improved data for decision-making e.g. to assess the impacts of heat and droughts in CCA
- at least 250 municipal elected politicians across the 27 municipal beneficiaries of LIFE ACT and an additional 300 municipal politicians from municipalities outside of the project obtain a better understanding of the impacts of climate change thus improving knowledge-based decision-making and supporting LCAP implementation
- at least 2.5 million citizens are directly informed about LIFE ACT and its objectives, consistent with the population of the 27 partner municipalities
- establishment or improvement of local partnerships, resulting in a large outreach and general awareness raising of local associations, companies, utility companies and citizens, and at least 95 local organisations
- engagement of at least 75 utility companies, 150 businesses, 250 local politicians, 75 regional politicians, 10 national politicians and all the 14 Danish MEPs through the partnership approach developed in the project
- involvement of the 6 Danish universities, at least 3 other knowledge institutions, minimum 3 research and technologies organisations, the thinktank CONCITO, and at least 7 large NGOs, facilitating the application of the newest knowledge in the LCAPs
- input for dialogues with national authorities (agencies and ministries) for improved regulation, governance and incentives through the aggregated knowledge of the place-based implementation actions on legislative constraints
- establishment of international cooperation on best practices of different governance models for accelerating climate actions
- incorporation of knowledge from the Horizon Missions project TRAMI on governance models and replication of its results on partnerships at different scales, including concrete place-based issues and professional issues
- a uniform methodology for calculating consumption-based CO2e emissions
- a coherent monitoring system regarding the progression of the LCAPs
- enhanced climate leadership for all municipalities across Denmark
- improvement of national-funded decision support tools are improved e.g. KlimaAtlas