Quantitative Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment Method for Spatial Planning Policy

Programme 2014 - 2020 ESPON 2020

Date of latest update: 2024-05-18

Description

Description (EN):

European Union (EU) policymaking is reacting to climate change with increasing seriousness and urgency. In November 2019, the European Parliament declared a global climate emergency and called for a target of 55% greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions by 2030 in order to reach its target on climate neutrality by 2050. The new European Commission (EC) has decided on a European Green Deal that will transform the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. By the end of 2019, all EU Member State were required to submit their final National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) for achieving the current EU Climate and Energy Framework targets of a 40% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 (from 1990 levels). The main objective of this service is to produce a robust, simple and proportionate methodology that will allow competent planning authorities at national, regional and local administrative levels to quantify and forecast the influence of spatial planning policies on GHG emissions in a consistent manner. The methodology will be transformed into a flexible and user-centric web application. During the development, the knowledge demands and technical requirements of the four stakeholders included within this Targeted Analysis Project will be addressed and the web application will be tested through pilot application in each of the stakeholder case study territories.

Achievements (EN):

The objective of the QGasSP project (2020–21) was to produce a methodology that will allow competent planning authorities at national, regional and local administrative levels to quantify the influence of spatial planning policies on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a consistent manner. More specifically, the objective was to address the knowledge demands and technical requirements of the four stakeholders included within this Targeted Analysis Project: -the Eastern and Midlands Regional Authority (IE), -Scottish Government – Planning & Architecture Division (UK), -Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland (UK) and -Regional Council of Kymenlaakso (FI). The expected primary outcome of the QGasSP project was the development and delivery of a robust, simple and proportionate method for quantifying and forecasting the relative GHG impacts of alternative spatial planning policies in three areas (buildings, land use, transport), and impacts arising from household consumption with possible post-project pan-European applicability. The purpose of this approach is to help inform policy alternatives at different administrative scales, and which can ultimately assist national, regional and local policy decision-makers across EU Member States and ESPON Partner States in meeting their GHG emission reduction targets. (ESPON, 2020).

Website: https://archive.espon.eu/

Expected Results (EN):

The main outcomes of this project should be the following: - A flexible, user-centric web application which is simple to use in modelling GHG emissions from differing spatial planning policy options and in informing decision-making processes, including SEA. The model is expected to: * include GHG accounting parameters for consistency and comparability in quantifying urban and land-use based GHG emissions relevant to spatial planning policy. * apply for pan-European application and has the potential to play a useful role in informing spatial policy decision-making, improving the SEA process and assist in building political will for effective long-term climate action. * be tested through pilot application in each of the stakeholder case study territories included in this Targeted Analysis Project. - A comprehensive and associated practical user guide and recommendations to ensure that the value of the tool in the spatial planning policy assessment process is maximised, including how it can be integrated into the SEA process. The project should also answer the following key policy questions: - How can consistent and comparable GHG baseline emissions data be collected at national, regional and local levels to assess the urban and land-use share of GHG emissions relevant for spatial planning policy and practice? - How can the efficacy of spatial plans and possible alternatives be systematically modelled, via standardised quantitative methodologies and accounting protocols, to determine their overall impact on GHG emissions, and aid cross-country, inter-regional and inter-municipality comparisons? - How can a better scientific understanding be developed of how national, regional and local planning authorities can prioritise relevant GHG mitigation strategies, including through enhancing the effectiveness of the SEA process, to rapidly build political will for climate action?

Thematic information

Regional planning and development Climate change and biodiversity

Specific Objective: Upgraded knowledge transfer and use of analytical user support

Thematic Objective:

(11) enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration through actions to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administrations and public services related to the implementation of the ERDF, and in support of actions under the ESF to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administration.

Investment Priority: (11 ETC) ETC specific for transnational cooperation: enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration by developing and coordinating macro-regional and sea-basin strategies

Partners (4)

Lead Partner: Tallinn University of Technology

Address: Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia

Legal status: public

Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre

Name: Stockholm Environment Institute Tallinn Centre

Address: Erika 14, 10416 Tallinn, Estonia

Legal status: private

IWA (Oivan Group Oy)

Name: IWA (Oivan Group Oy)

Address: Ruoholahdenkatu 8, 00180 Helsinki, Finland

Legal status: private

City of Dublin Energy Management Agency (CODEMA)

Name: City of Dublin Energy Management Agency (CODEMA)

Address: The Loft 2-4 Crown Alley, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, D02 TK74 Dublin, Ireland

Legal status: private

Partners map

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Quantitative Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment Method for Spatial Planning Policy

Project acronym: QGasSP

Project start date: 2020-09-07

Project end date: 2021-10-15

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 289 486.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 236 713.86

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 236 713.86.

Documents

Documents on this project are listed below, and organised by category. Please note field "Data source", attached to each document. Keep.eu users are free to use these documents as long as they mention the data source and keep.eu.

Reports

Adjusted Final report

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/QGasSP

Publication date: 2023-08-20

Document date: 2022-09-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Studies / surveys

Ireland Case Study Pilot

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/QGasSP

Publication date: 2023-08-20

Document date: 2022-09-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Northern Ireland Case Study Pilot

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/QGasSP

Publication date: 2023-08-20

Document date: 2022-09-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Scotland Case Study Pilot

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/QGasSP

Publication date: 2023-08-20

Document date: 2022-09-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Finland Case Study Pilot

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Study / survey

Data source: https://www.espon.eu/QGasSP

Publication date: 2023-08-20

Document date: 2022-09-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 ESPON 2020

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2024-03-04

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

68 / 69 (98.55%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

353 / 370 (95.41%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Data from 3 projects ((MRS. ESPON TOOL, SoET and CPS 2.0) was retrieved by Interact from the programme´s website on the 2024-03-01. Regarding partners only data only main partners is available. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://www.espon.eu), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-09-21 and 2023-01-03.

Languages

Contact Form

Quantitative Greenhouse Gas Impact Assessment Method for Spatial Planning Policy

Description

Thematic information

Partners (4)

Partners map

Summary

Documents

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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