Communities driving the shift to fossil-free heating and cooling
How can cities accelerate the decarbonisation of Europe’s heating and cooling sector, which represents over 50% of final energy consumption and a major share of emissions? While progress depends on strong regulatory frameworks, enabling measures, and political leadership, experience shows that community-led approaches can significantly speed up the transition. Yet important policy and structural barriers remain.
Citizen and community engagement is a key enabler of fossil-free cities. Beyond being consumers, citizens can actively participate in producing and managing clean heating and cooling. However, municipalities still face obstacles in scaling up clean solutions, particularly for community-driven projects.
On Wednesday, 29 April, join us for The Leaf: Communities Driving the Shift to Fossil-Free Heating and Cooling in Guimarães (Portugal). Designed for local and regional authorities and energy professionals, the event will explore practical approaches to strengthening citizen and community involvement in clean heating and cooling initiatives.
GUIMAGYM – an inspiring example of sustainable architecture and energy efficiency
Our day will start with a site visit to a newly built public sports facility that has fully decarbonised its heating and cooling systems: the Gymnastic Training Center of Guimarães – GUIMAGYM. Built with innovative materials, it achieves a high level of energy efficiency and operates with near-zero carbon emissions, making it largely self-sufficient. A 650 m³ rainwater tank collects and reuses water for sanitary purposes and for cooling HVAC systems. Energy needs are covered through renewable sources, including 1,300 m² of solar panels and a 10 km geothermal network that provides heating and cooling. All artificial lighting is ensured by 4 km of 100% LED installations.
Additionally, during the visit, we will have the opportunity to learn how the project engaged with the sports community. Young athletes and their families were consulted on the project. The city of Guimaraes will explain how this project serves as a proof of concept for further development, in line with their work on heating and cooling planning.
Community-led heating solutions across Europe: state of play and challenges
After lunch, a 2-hour workshop will bring together experts and cities to share experiences on policy barriers and solutions.
We will explore how local heating and cooling plans could be important tools to improve the policy framework and increase knowledge. The EU-funded projects MUSE DHC and ESCALATE will contribute to making the session an insightful experience.
Nurturing roots – Energy Cities’ Annual Forum
The leaf: communities driving the shift to fossil-free heating and cooling is organised within Energy Cities’ Annual Forum, happening from 28 to 30 April in Guimarães, the 2026 European Green Capital.
Under the theme “Nurturing the roots”, the fourth edition of the Grafting Cities conference portrays cities as ever-evolving trees: adapting to changing seasons, overcoming challenges, and continuously bearing new fruit.
At a time when the next EU budget foresees reduced resources and democracy faces mounting pressures, strengthening cities’ roots is more essential than ever. This means securing adequate funding, building local capacity, empowering citizens to participate meaningfully, and creating supportive frameworks for sustainable action.
The conference will bring together municipalities and key stakeholders to exchange experiences, build partnerships, and advance the transition to climate neutrality, while keeping democracy at the heart of local action. Join us and help build resilient roots! Learn more about the Forum here and click here to register.