ECF collaboration lab episode: community energy, a powerful force of change in Besançon

City Stories by Energy Cities

In this episode, two energy experts based in the East of France join us to share their plans for an energy community in the city of Besançon. Besançon counts around 120.000 inhabitants. Anik Lehman-Tron is a renewables expert and works for the local government. Mireia Matencio is legal advisor at Opale Energies Naturelles, a renewables company based in the same area. Together, they want to operate energy production in an entirely different way and, what’s most important, boost the involvement of citizens. It is exciting to see how well the city and the private sector perspective converge! This episode and the collaboration lab were made possible thanks to funding from the European Climate Foundation (ECF). The ECF is an international non-profit and its great team promotes climate and energy policies in Europe. In 2019, the European Climate Foundation launched its Energy Democracy programme. It focuses on the support of community energy projects both at the EU and national levels. europeanclimate.org