By Gitte Davidsen (original in Danish)
Since mid-2022, Nordic Folkecenter has participated in the MissionGreenFuels partnership, which aims to contribute significantly to the climate goals for 2030 and 2050 as well as support Danish research, innovation, growth and export potential within green fuels (https://missiongreenfuels.dk/).
The partnership consists of more than 90 partners across large industrial members, SMEs, organisations, universities and GTS institutions (Research & Technology Organizations).
The MissionGreenFuels partnership aims to contribute to the decarbonisation of the transport sector. Green fuels are important for the green transition as they contribute to sustainable carbon cycles and socio-economic transparency.
Experience shows that not all biofuels are green, and it is difficult to remove new fuels from the value chain. The MissionGreenFuels partnership addresses the challenges of green fuels through a focused approach via a roadmap that ensures knowledge sharing and avoids technology lock-in.
In Pool 1, during the first 18 months of the project, Folkecenter participated in the COMON project, which focused on involving local communities in the transition to green fuels.
The background for COMON is that, in recent years, companies and municipalities have faced considerable skepticism and widespread concern from local citizens and interest organizations regarding the establishment of technologies and infrastructures for the production of renewable energy. This skepticism and concern often results in local resistance and protracted conflicts, potentially delaying the green transition towards decarbonised societies, including the development and deployment of green fuels.
The purpose of COMON is to mitigate time-consuming and expensive conflicts between private and public organizations and local citizens and interest groups. Furthermore, the project aims to open a public dialogue in order to develop constructive cooperation across the value chain and an engaged and democratic citizenry within the green transition. (https://missiongreenfuels.dk/comon/)
In Pool 2, which extends throughout 2024 and 2025, Folkecenter participates in the DEEP project, which works with design of community cooperation for sustainable energy parks.
The DEEP project originates from a political ambition to design holistic energy parks in Denmark with a focus on recent years of local resistance to renewable energy systems, which increasingly prioritize biodiversity and environmental conservation – the so-called green-on-green conflicts (https://missiongreenfuels.dk/deep/)
The project’s goal is to develop a community-driven model for developers, investors and municipalities to design sustainable energy parks that include wind turbines, solar panels and PtX facilities. The model’s design principles will integrate local needs and suggestions from citizens and interest organisations, as well as considerations for improving biodiversity and nature conservation. Expected results and impacts include mitigating time-consuming and expensive conflicts between private organizations and citizens and interest groups, providing a platform for the design of holistic energy parks that addresses both citizens’ needs and considerations for improving local nature and biodiversity, and presenting a strategy for community collaboration with principles and processes for involvement and dialogue, examples of productive communication formats and capacity building initiatives.
