In Avedøre, Fjelsted-Harndrup, Brenderup, Bornholm and many other places, citizens will convert their local communities to cleaner energy. For them, it is about the climate, the community, the future of local areas and common sense.

At the same time, the EU wants far more wind and solar to be boosted, as well as local citizen energy communities that can produce and share their own energy.

Here at home, there is plenty of action among the citizens. But it is held back by bureaucracy and complex regulations.

So what should we do about the obstacles holding back citizen-driven energy projects? How to go from Not to Yes in my backyard? What are they doing in Tønder and Lemvig? And what about the EU's role and responsibility?

All this was up for debate at the Council for Transition and Cooperative conference on 27 November 2023. It was held in Pressen, Politikens Hus, and you could also take part online.

Citizens, mayors, parliamentary politicians, candidates for the European Parliament and other actors took part in various panels, while people in the hall and from home had the opportunity to take part in the debate with questions and comments along the way.

The conference is part of our project Yes in my backyard, and on our theme page (see below) you can find stories about the citizens who gave presentations at the conference as well as other articles on the subject.

See the entire conference here.:

The conference is organized by the Green Transition Denmark and Share and is supported by the KR Foundation and the European Climate Foundation.

Financed with a grant from the European Council. Responsibility for the content lies solely with the grant recipient.

Program for the conference, held November 27, 2023.

At 12.15-13:00: Arrival, registration, sandwich, soft drink, coffee

At 13:00-13:10: Welcome v/moderator Mads Nyvold, journalist for Politiken's Climate Monitorr

At 13.10-13.20: Opening speech

In the EU, there is pressure to switch from coal, oil and gas to wind, solar and green heat. But how are citizens set free so that local initiatives and energy communities can create a green wave from below?

• • v/Green Transition Denmark director, Bjarke Møller

At 13:20-14:20: The local initiatives

More and more enthusiasts are saying yes to more sun, wind and geothermal heating in the local community. We hear about challenges and solutions from some of those who have gone ahead.

• • Energy community Avedøre v/Zentropa's managing director Anders Kjærhauge

• • How does our village get rid of oil and gas? v/Elisabeth Tejlmand fra Fjelsted-Harndrup

• • Sun over Brenderup v/Hans Christian Jørgensen from Brenderup

• • Bornholm's Sea Wind v/person for Bornholm's offshore wind farm, Helle Munk Ravnborg

At 14:20-15:00: Panel discussion The views of mayors and members of parliament

How can municipalities speed up the green energy transition? And can they use the EU as an additional lever? v/politician panel with mayors/politicians consisting of:

• • Climate, energy and supply rapporteur from Radikale Venstre, Samira Nawa

• • Climate, energy and supply rapporteur from Alternativet, Franciska Rosenkilde

• • Mayor of Tønder Municipality, Jørgen Popp Petersen

• • Chairman of the Rural District Council and chairman of the Technology and Environment Committee in Lemvig Municipality, Steffen Husted Damsgaard

At 15:00-15:30: Break

At 15:30-16:00: How can the actors secure local support?

We need to hear from people in the industry how we can practically do something about the obstacles and secure local support. What are the experiences of local citizens who say: "Yes in My Backyard". This is where we need to hear from

• • Director of Communications at Andel, Rikke Trikker

• • Danish Youth Delegate to the UN for democracy and partnerships, Cecilia Zade Iseni

• • Senior researcher at Aalborg University, Kristian Borch

• • Head of Department at the Technology Council/Participant Denmark, Dan Holt Højgaard.

At 16:00-16:40: How can we use the EU as a lever in the green transition

The EU has set ambitious targets for the development of renewable energy and would like to give local energy communities a much stronger role in the green transition. But in Denmark, the installation of wind turbines has come to a standstill, and we are also not front-runners in terms of providing good framework conditions for local energy communities. Can we use the EU as a lever for the green transformation of the energy sector?

Participant here

• • Leading candidate for the European Parliament elections for the Moderates, Stine Bosse

• • Leading candidate for the European Parliament elections for Radical Liberals, Sigrid Friis

• • Candidate for the European Parliament elections for SF, Rasmus Nordqvist