1. The contracting organisation
Samsø Energy Academy is a project-based organization in Denmark focused on the consequences of climate change and a physical gathering and meeting place for people interested in community development. Its organizational goal is to convey knowledge about holistic cooperative processes, community development and sustainable solutions. It hosts meetings and gatherings concerning subjects such as education and research, including courses, meetings, seminars, and exhibitions about energy, climate change, and sustainable resources.
The Samsø Energy Academy has been awarded a service contract from the European Commission (DG REFORM) to strengthen the capacity of Central Denmark Region’s 19 municipalities in the process of delivering inclusive and realistic climate plans, able to translate the national climate policy into action and deliver on the national climate ambition.
The project runs from December 1st 2021 through January 31st 2024 (26 months).

2. Background

Mitigating the effects of climate change and adapting our economies’ production and consumption patterns and our lifestyle are among the largest challenges the world currently faces. 2020 was a milestone year for climate policy as new climate targets of unprecedented ambition were set. Aiming to maintain its leading role in climate mitigation policies, the EU raised the threshold of ambition to climate neutrality in 2050 and invited other major world economies to follow its lead.
Already in 2019, a broad majority in the Danish Parliament agreed one of the world’s most ambitious climate legislations. The Climate Act set a target for Denmark to reduce its CO2 emissions by 70% by 2030 and become climate neutral by 2050, reaffirming the country’s position as European pioneer.

To put its ambitious climate targets into practice and make change happen on the ground, apart from the favourable framework Denmark also needs to build capacity and expertise at municipal and regional level for the use of state-of-the-art planning tools and the collection of appropriate data in a range of climate-related sectors that can help deliver on the 2050 climate neutrality target.
In support of Danish municipalities, the DK2020 project was introduced at national level in 2019 and the five regional authorities in Denmark were designated coordinators to support their own municipalities in the process. This process is supported by Realdania, a Danish philanthropic association with the mission to improve the quality of life and benefit the common good by improving the built environment. Through the DK2020 project Realdania seeks to help municipalities align with the Paris climate Agreement, deliver on Denmark’s climate neutrality goal at the local level and support dialogue and cooperation between Danish municipalities.

Upon signing up to the DK2020 project, a municipality agrees to use an evidence-based tool, such as the climate audit, in which the current data on greenhouse gas emissions from its territory show as a baseline. DK2020 then invites Danish municipalities to use adequate scientific tools to make scenarios of the path to achieve net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases and carry out climate plans to boost their commitment and plan ahead in the horizon of 2050. It is then the responsibility of each municipality to carry out a climate plan at municipal level and submit it to DK2020.
However, officers at the middle level in the regional and municipal administrations need to be trained and experienced in using the tool. For the development of the municipal climate plans, they need to be able to provide to policy and decision makers (a) science and knowledge-based advice and (b) a draft budget for the proposed action lines.
The Samsø Energy Academy has been awarded a service contract from the European Commission to strengthen the capacity of Central Denmark Region’s 19 municipalities in the process of delivering inclusive and realistic climate plans, able to translate the national climate policy into action and deliver on the national climate ambition.

3. Specifications for the award of a contract and deliverables
The Samsø Energy Academy seeks a subcontractor to help build capacity in Central Denmark Region municipalities’ administrations on the use of the climate auditing tool. The subcontractor should have proven experience in assisting municipalities within the DK2020 framework and in the climate auditing tool used in Central Denmark Region. The subcontractor should also be familiar with the C40 Climate Action Planning Framework and should have proven experience in energy and climate planning and in developing and implementing green solutions within the fields of renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable transport. Within this area, it must be able to demonstrate experience in delivering energy and climate audits services at a large scale, equivalent to the 19 municipalities of Central Denmark Region and in communicating data to the municipalities and regions in manners that meet different level of expertise and different ways of learning and understanding. It will also be able to deliver practical instruction processes with respect to how to use data and show the effect of one years’ implementation of measure in coming years’ audits.

The subcontractor should prepare and deliver:

a. Guidance on climate audits and climate plans by December 2022 at the latest The Samsø Energy Academy, after having consulted and agreed with CDR, considers that a manual in Danish and English and video instructions on the use of the climate auditing tool is fit for purpose. The proposed content and format will be tested and adjusted accordingly following preparatory meetings with Central Denmark Region (CDR) and stakeholders/target groups of the project and finalized at Steering Committee level and upon approval by DG REFORM.

The guidance as a minimum will touch upon the following elements:

• Understanding the climate audit methodology• Understanding the climate audit structure

• Answering users’ questions and providing do’s and don’t

• Learning where and how to cross reference data

• Learning how to monitor annual flows of greenhouse gases within geographical municipal and regional borders

• Understanding the interdependence between urban and rural areas when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions

• Learning how to work together with neighbouring municipalities to create synergies from overlapping parameters in their climate audits and plans

• Learning how to use the climate audit to create an emission reduction pathway

• Learning how to use the climate audit to create different scenarios to achieve the municipal climate target in line with the national reduction target for 2030 and 2050

b. Training sessions on climate auditing and planning from September 2022 through December 2023 (task 1.5)
The activity will target at least 2 employees with relevant responsibilities within each municipal administration, and will be a series of technical training sessions on climate auditing and planning:

(a) Thematically organized Q and A sessions. The primary target group will be local administrators but to some extent stakeholders will also be relevant.

(b) Training camps targeted at the key climate coordinators in the municipal and regional administrations.

The 19 CDR’s municipalities will be clustered into small groups of 3-4 and stakeholders from within the municipalities’ geographical areas will be invited as well, as deemed appropriate.
The activity will be repeated for each group of municipalities, likely 5 times in total, but the final number may differ depending on the final number of groups.

The grouping of municipalities will be done on the basis of common characteristics or links that they have with each other. An example of existing link is resources across municipal borders that appear on the climate audits of more than 1 municipality, or renewable energy projects that are planned close to the municipal border and affect more than 1 municipality.
Another example is common challenges or common approaches and topics of interests in relation to the management of specific resources. Or it could be on the basis of other existing connections or cooperation they may have with each other. 

The grouping of municipalities will be done in cooperation with CDR and consultation with municipalities and stakeholders.
Based on the climate audit (and other factors), it is possible to describe and define how municipalities could collaborate. For instance, in Denmark district heating nets often connect across municipalities. Decisions with respect to what renewable fuels and what technologies should be used by the district heating facility therefore needs to be influenced in collaboration between different municipalities, which may all receive heat from the same supplier. 

The climate audit is able to facilitate such cross- municipal decisions. Another example is Powerto-X facilities and biogas plants. Finding the best location for a biogas plant in terms of logistics may need collaboration amongst two municipalities. Also, a biogas plant may need feedstock (e.g. manure) from a certain radius, which crosses municipal borders, or a municipality may need other types of biomass (e.g. household organic waste) for which it may coordinate with other municipalities and waste companies. Or depending on the location of a biogas plant, coordination with respect to how to locate renewable electricity (e.g. from wind turbines) for
electrolysis may be needed, etc.

4. Budget
The budget for the contract to be awarded is sixty-five thousand (65 000) euros, plus VAT.

5. Evaluation
The contracts will be awarded to the most advantageous offer, considering the technical merit, quality, skills and capacity for delivery (80% in total) and price (20%).

Publication date – 18 February 2022
Deadline for receipt of offers – 7 March 2022 – 16:00 CET