Europe’s green transition requires a commitment from industry and government to enable sustainable development. The SHC by Sweden programme promotes collaborations and facilitate knowledge-sharing between Sweden and selected focus markets, to accelerate the development and implementation of sustainable heating and cooling solutions across the world.
Better, smarter city environments are a priority across Europe, and around the world domestic, commercial, and industry environments are being reimagined to provide cleaner and more efficient heating and cooling.
Collaborations have proven to be an important and efficient way of reaching the goals set for heating and cooling. Collaborating between cities can make it possible to reap benefits from pooling resources and sharing information. Moreover, collaborations can make it possible to secure energy supply while providing the most environmentally friendly heat at the lowest cost.
The Sustainable Heating and Cooling (SHC) by Sweden programme was created with the purpose to promote collaborations and facilitate knowledge-sharing between Sweden and selected focus markets, in order to accelerate the development and implementation of sustainable heating and cooling solutions across the world. The programme is owned and financed by the Swedish Energy Agency, while implemented by Business Sweden with support from programme partners such as Sweheat & Cooling.
Over the past five years, the programme has facilitated collaborations between Swedish and international stakeholders, e.g. from industry, government and civil society. Through consistent dialogues and knowledge sharing, long-term relationships have formed between parties. Taking France as an example, the programme has enabled Swedish cities to meet with French to exchange experiences on prioritized topics. Topics have varied greatly depending on the situational context but could range from “how to develop a district cooling network” to “which software to use for demand-side management”.
The starting point of these inter-city collaborations has always been an understanding of potential mutual benefits to be gained, followed by a mapping of the French city’s situation and key development challenges. Thereafter, several workshops have followed. Early workshops have focused on discussing potential solutions to the city’s challenges, while subsequent meetings have focused on concrete services and technology solutions. Swedish cities have been key contributors to these workshops by providing inspiration and broadening the perspective of French cities – and vice versa.
The SHC by Sweden programme has facilitated numerous dialogues like these, which have created long-lasting intercity partnerships, and later on led to cleaner and more energy efficient systems being implemented. District heating and cooling is on a trajectory to help transform domestic, commercial and industrial energy systems, and international city collaborations can be a key instrument for that green transition.
If you want to know more about the SHC by Sweden programme and how you as a city or commercial player could get involved, please reach out to:
Cecilia Hedlund
Program Manager, SHC by Sweden
cecilia.hedlund@business-sweden.se
Cecilia is one of the coordinators of the Celsius Summit round table discussion on collaboration between cities on 25 November.