LIFE-funded project NECPlatform concludes after 30 months, demonstrating the key role multi-level climate and energy dialogues have in reaching the EU Climate and Energy Goals. A final high-level event in Brussels, organised over 2 days, gathers policymakers and other stakeholders from several Member States, to share lessons learnt and see how to make the EU legislation more ambitious.
Multi-level governance (MLG) promotes collaborative decision-making, inclusiveness, and the effective use of resources and expertise across different levels and sectors of governments and society. It has two main components: a vertical one – involving different administrative levels; and a horizontal one – involving different sectors of society. As requested in Article 11 of the Governance Regulation, Member States had to implement multi-level governance processes when designing, implementing and monitoring national energy and climate policy (namely Climate and Energy Dialogues, CEDs).
The CEDs had to be pursuant to national rules and bring together relevant stakeholders (Ministries in charge of NECP, national association of local and regional authorities, national and regional energy agencies, civil society organisations, business sector, academia, etc.) to ensure that energy and climate policies were co-created and consistent at all governance levels and amongst different sectors of society. The objective was to make them a privileged fora to discuss and deliver drafts in 2023 and final updated NECPs in 2024, and in the definition of a Monitoring and Verification system to report on them until 2030.
The implementation of CEDs in six Member States
The NECPlatform project was launched in 2022 to support six EU Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal and Romania) in setting-up and managing permanent multi-level Climate and Energy Dialogue (CED) Platforms, helping them comply with Article 11 of the Governance Regulation by fostering vertical and horizontal integration of energy and climate policies.
The platforms had the form of roundtables and met between 4 and 6 times in the six countries since 2022. They brought together representatives from national, sub-national authorities and other relevant stakeholders, such as representatives from civil society, academia, industry, financial sector, NGOs, etc. Their purpose was to manage, in a collaborative process, the design, implementation and monitoring of climate and energy policies to make them coherent across levels of governance (e.g. European, national and local) and areas of competence. These platforms were also meant to ensure national policies were consistent with participants’ capacities and needs to engage in an ambitious and fair ecological transition with common objectives.
The importance of multilevel dialogues in the coming years
EU legislation, and particularly the European Green Deal, is increasingly recognising the essential role of regional and local authorities to meet the objective set by the European Climate Law. The revised Directives and Regulations of the “Fit for 55” package, such as the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Energy Performance of Building Directive or the Renewable Energy Directive, reinforced or created new obligations for local governments, especially regarding planning aspects. They also recognised their privileged position of proximity to citizens and knowledge of their territories.
Some of the NECPlatform project experiences clearly show that these multilevel dialogues are practical solutions for speeding up the implementation of the Green Deal and removing existing obstacles. The project partners managed to overcome obstacles, from political crises to facing difficulties in gathering various stakeholders, and the experience gained has been shared through a Peer-to-peer learning programme which has been running since January 2025 and will end at the end of March 2025.
The programme has supported organisations from other six Member States in gaining a better understanding of the legislative framework and the possible structures that the Climate and Energy Dialogue Platform can have. This includes not only all steps necessary to map and engage relevant stakeholders but also strategies to ensure continuity, find appropriate governance forms, build and keep a trusting relationship with national governments.
Multi-Level Governance: A Key to EU Climate and Energy Goals
Why is it vital to keep investing in multilevel governance to advance the Green Deal? On March 18, 2025, the final event of the NECPlatform project will share the key outcomes from the six EU Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal and Romania) setting up Climate and Energy Dialogue platforms and discuss challenges and features for success of multi-level governance. It will also highlight the need to keep investing in multi-level governance in the coming years as part of future plans and regulations.
More information about the programme and registration here.
