Final Meeting in Denmark: Day 1

On the 22nd and 23rd September, we held our final conference in Denmark, with representatives from all our partners attending the sessions both online and in person. It was a momentous occasion, as some colleagues had not seen each other in person for some time.

Day 1 began with a welcome speech from the mayor of Middelfart Municipality – Johannes Lundsfryd Jensen. Johannes spoke about the importance of the Energize Co2mmunity project and the significance of hosting the conference in Middelfart, in the wake of their successful climate festival.

Following this, the project teams presented their pilots; a summary of their humble beginnings, through to their respective challenges and milestones. Here there was an impressive display of different models and project trajectories: the outcome of which was made possible through individual team efforts and transnational pairings.

That afternoon, participants boarded a bus to the village of Føns. We experienced first-hand the local heating plant, which not only utilises pre-existing infrastructure but also results in huge CO2 savings every year.

Sol over Brenderup was next on the agenda – a citizen-powered solar PV initiative – which was an incredible lesson in the power of how social ties can bring about real change in energy structures.

The day concluded with a ferry trip to the energy island of Samsø.