PlanHeat

Local Heat Planning – Achieving the Heat Transition in BSR Municipalities

Local heat planning must also be promoted in the Baltic Sea region in order to make heat generation climate-friendly. The “PlanHeat” project supports cities in the development of sustainable heating plans and promotes the exchange of knowledge and solutions across national borders.

PlanHeat

Nations

Partners

Years

The heating sector accounts for a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions – also in the Baltic Sea region. Local heat planning is an important tool for shaping the transition to a climate-neutral heating supply.

The EU is requiring cities with more than 45,000 inhabitants to draw up such plans in the near future. Many European municipalities are not yet prepared for this.

The PlanHeat project supports cities in the Baltic Sea region in developing local heat plans. In cooperation with specialist organisations and municipalities from seven countries, a manual is being produced with solutions covering the topics of data use, technology, training of municipal staff, stakeholder participation and financing. Target groups such as ministries, energy suppliers and citizens are actively involved.

The PlanHeat handbook will be distributed throughout the Baltic Sea region, among other things through the involvement of so-called ‘Ambassador Cities’.

The project brings together 14 project partners and 39 associated organisations (AOs) from seven EU member states and one AO from Ukraine: municipal, regional and national authorities, networks of cities, district heating suppliers and associations, energy agencies, consulting firms and research institutions. Together, they are pooling their expertise and networks to develop and implement the PlanHeat solution and actively involve other representatives of the target groups.

Objectives

The project objective is the joint development of a transnational handbook that supports municipalities in the Baltic Sea region in the creation of local heat plans. To this end, solutions in the areas of data use, technology, training of municipal staff, stakeholder participation and financing will be developed, tested and summarised in the handbook.

Tasks of aconium GmbH

The EU Programmes and Networks team at aconium GmbH developed the content for the PlanHeat project, brought together the project consortium, drafted the project application and submitted it together with the lead partner, the City of Bremerhaven (Climate City Office). This was approved by the Baltic Sea Region Monitoring Committee in November 2024.

In March 2025, aconium GmbH was commissioned by the lead partner to manage the project, finances and communications, while also playing a central role in coordinating the content and concept of the project activities.