District heating and cooling: cities going circular for a carbon neutral Europe

Cities and their managers are key stakeholders to ensure successful energy transition that would lead us towards carbon neutrality by 2050. The local technical, financial and managerial innovation takes place precisely in urban settings, which are also pioneers of integrating circularity in the concept of energy transition. There are many paths that can be taken by city leaders to reach their energy, climate and circularity goals, but one solution in particular stands out: district heating networks can become modern vectors of territorial energy integration and sector coupling.  This workshop will be focused on the role of high efficient district heating networks (DHN) as it will facilitate the exchange of emerging expertise and knowledge on their deployment and modernisation, taking the example of existing and prospective initiatives. Experienced representatives of local authorities, energy agencies and global companies will be given the floor to share tools and examples of innovative solutions which enable increased energy efficiency, the integration of renewable and waste energy sources as well as the use of energy storage options. This leads to enhanced overall resource efficiency, the creation of local jobs, the decarbonisation of the local energy system and better air quality. Ultimately, DHN can be a solution that is likely to improve resilience of cities and quality of life of citizens, as well as contributing towards decarbonisation of the heating sector by 2050.