{"id":628,"date":"2022-03-23T22:59:57","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T21:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aurora-h2020.eu\/?post_type=fd-news&p=628"},"modified":"2022-09-06T16:29:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T14:29:22","slug":"empowering-citizens-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"fd-news","link":"https:\/\/www.aurora-h2020.eu\/de\/fd-news\/empowering-citizens-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering citizens to tackle the climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

International project AURORA launched to empower the people of Europe to take ownership of the climate change debate. Five crowdfunded demonstrators in Denmark, England, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain will be built to reduce the carbon footprint of 7000 citizens.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an ambitious new research project, the climate crisis can only be tackled effectively if citizens are empowered to play a much more active role in transforming the energy sector, taking a stake in delivering the EU\u2019s ambitious target to reduce carbon emissions by 55% within a decade. Launched in December 2021 as part of the European \u2018Green Deal\u2019 initiative, the project called AURORA (\u201cAchieving a new European Energy Awareness\u201d) fosters an explicitly citizen-led, bottom-up approach compared to the more top-down strategies and political statements such as at the recent government summit in Glasgow (COP26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is people who make the difference in climate change\u201d, says project coordinator Dr. Ana Bel\u00e9n Crist\u00f3bal L\u00f3pez, Technical University of Madrid: \u201cIndeed it is often the poorest in our society who stand to gain most from reducing their carbon emissions and saving money on heating, lighting and transport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AURORA will work with 7,000 citizens across five locations in Denmark, England, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, to give them a greater say in how their energy is generated and used. These communities of \u2018citizen scientists\u2019 will crowd-fund local photovoltaic facilities to produce a total of ca. 1 megawatt of renewable energy. To make the climate crisis less abstract for citizens, the project will first focus on creating awareness of the \u2018carbon footprints\u2019 of our daily energy choices. The citizens will receive tailored recommendations how to make more informed energy decisions to reduce their emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results will be shared with many other citizens across Europe with the goal to start a bottom-up movement for change. The project will therefore also advocate politically for a more citizen-driven approach to tackle the climate crisis, for instance by engaging with the Environment Programme of the United Nations and European policy makers preparing for the UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt (COP27) in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AURORA project is a part of the EU\u2019s renowned \u201cHorizon 2020\u201d programme and started in December 2021. \u20ac4.6 million will be invested over the next 3.5 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Background information<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Key Drivers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union has set itself ambitious goals to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis: to cut down greenhouse gas emissions by 55% within less than a decade compared to the reference year 1990, and to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Three quarters of these emissions are a direct result of how people produce and consume energy. The AURORA project will allow citizens to play an active role in transforming this sector by giving them the tools to achieve these ambitions. The project will enable citizens to become both a producer and consumer of energy (\u2018prosumer\u2019). It is going to foster local energy communities, powered by leading-edge photovoltaic technology, and thereby aims to transform the energy system at large, to make it more transparent, fair and sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AURORA Project<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AURORA is part of the EU\u2019s renowned \u201cHorizon 2020\u201d programme. It started in December 2021 and will receive a total of \u20ac4.6 million in funding over the next 3.5 years. As a so-called Innovation Action, the project has a particularly applied focus and implements its innovative solutions directly in practice: Approximately 7,000 citizens across five locations in Denmark, England, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain, will join forces to become \u2018Near-zero emission\u2019 citizens. As \u2018citizen scientists\u2019, these communities will also crowd-fund photovoltaic facilities locally to produce a total of ca. 1 megawatt of renewable energy. A mobile app \u2013 also to be developed as part of the project \u2013 will allow participants to monitor their own behavioural patterns of heating and cooling, transport and use of electricity. In return, they will receive tailored suggestions on how they can lower their energy demand and reduce their costs. Approaches like these are meant to engage particularly younger generations and empower them to become agents of change beyond the project itself. Through workshops and hands-on activities, the project will encourage citizens to change their behaviour and attitudes towards energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four locations in continental Europe will be established around university campuses as hubs for social innovation; a fifth demonstrator will be established in one of England\u2019s economically most deprived regions, where the authorities declared a state of \u2018Climate Emergency\u2019 in December 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AURORA project consortium comprises nine institutions from six countries. The endeavour is coordinated by the Technical University (Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica) of Madrid, Dr. Ana Bel\u00e9n Crist\u00f3bal L\u00f3pez from the university\u2019s Solar Energy Institute. During the project kick-off in Madrid, coordinator Dr. Crist\u00f3bal described the ambitious goals as follows: \u201cAURORA aims at nothing less than to help local communities democratise the governance of their energy systems. Also marginalised groups will be empowered to make more informed and thus more sustainable energy decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AURORA project consortium:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n