Post by Climate KIC

How do you build the future when the present is full of legal uncertainty, rising costs and fragile citizen trust? 🏙️ That’s what Gemeente Den Haag set out to answer through the NetZeroCitiesEU Pilot Cities Programme, led by Climate KIC. The city set out by designing an investment platform that unlocks funding for neighbourhood energy upgrades, with district heating and citizens as the backbone. “It’s about aligning different funds, different departments, different ministries, private parties, each with their own rules and risk management,” says Petra Bijvoet, the Hague’s strategic advisor on energy transition and project leader for the Dutch cities pilot District Investment Platform. The city’s first goal: connect 80,000 homes to a new heat grid. But the business case revealed high risks and costs. And some private partners walked away. As the city grappled with this and repeated delays to new legislation – the Collective Heat Supply Act – they pivoted and their solutions became more innovative. They connected 500 homes at a time to local mini-grids – a temporary but sustainable heat source. Now the city is ready to integrate those homes into a geothermal powered district heating system in the future. The city also joined forces to lobby the Dutch parliament, who finally adopted the Act that takes effect this year. With these major wins already, this pilot has inspired other Dutch cities to develop district investment platforms, blending public and private capital to fund local transformations. 🔗 Find out how – Link in comments. #NetZeroCities #ClimateNeutralCities #UrbanClimate #EnergyTransition #DistrictHeating #SystemsChange #ClimateKIC #EUMissions