The SpeedLocal project accelerates the Nordic green transition through trans-Nordic and transdisciplinary collaboration, as well as by navigating national planning, local implementation, and social acceptability.
The project supports the Nordic region’s transition to a sustainable green energy system by aligning national planning, local implementation, and social acceptability. Across the Nordics, policy makers have stressed the need for an integrated energy planning approach to achieve this. However, stakeholders tasked with developing and implementing such plans often lack guidance and tools to incorporate energy demands and potentials with resource availability, landscape impacts, and community claims. Considering the substantial changes that Nordic landscapes and communities will undergo in the coming years, along with the often-contentious nature of these changes, there is a pressing need for frameworks to guide the transition process locally. Actionable knowledge is needed to comprehend space for action, in what timeframes, and how local choices impact, and are impacted by, national and regional energy and climate objectives.
This transdisciplinary initiative engages experts, stakeholders, and communities across the Nordic countries in three case studies; Trondelag, Norway; Skaraborg, Sweden; and Bornholm, Denmark. In these places, national targets and visions are brought into life. Feedback from these cases can enrich the process and help us understand the impacts and barriers at local and national scale as well as how it can influence the speed of the green transition.
The project combines a variety of methods, including stakeholder engagement, policy analysis, landscape analysis, participatory processes, and energy system modeling. Two scientific approaches are appointed to ensure that disciplines are well-balanced and interconnected throughout the project, fostering collaboration and maximising the value of shared knowledge in the Nordic region. The results will be collected in a Strategy Kit for integrated energy planning, equipped with communicative tools and strategies to bridge gaps between research and implementation, providing local stakeholders with actionable knowledge.
