Experts from Akordi and WesselinkVanZijst presented systematic and proven practices for engaging the general public and key stakeholders in large-scale energy projects

In yesterday’s webinar, DENSE & TENSE: Large Scale Energy Projects in Oulu and The Hague – Systematic Approach to Engaging the General Public and Key Stakeholders, experts from Akordi and WesselinkVanZijst presented systematic and proven practices for engaging the general public and key stakeholders in large-scale energy projects. A state-of-the-art approach to public participation and stakeholder engagement was illustrated through cases from The Hague and Oulu.

Robin Schram (WvZ) shared learnings from the WarmtelinQ project by Gasunie in The Hague, and Stefan Szepesi (WvZ) introduced Strategic Stakeholder Engagement as a method. Presented lessons from urban energy transition projects included for example empowering local authorities, mirroring the profile of your stakeholders and adjusting the compensation policy to include urban areas.

Joonas Söderholm (City of Oulu) presented the Oulu case, and Thomas Banafa (Akordi) demonstrated how to draft an informed stakeholder engagement strategy based on the work carried out in Oulu, where Akordi has collaborated with the city to develop a city-wide model for participation and interaction. During the webinar, hosted by Jonna Kangasoja (Akordi), we also published Akordi’s proposal for an interaction strategy for the city of Oulu: “Lähtökohtia hyväksyttävän ja oikeudenmukaisen vihreän siirtymän toteutukseen” (engl. Starting points for implementing an acceptable and fair green transition).

Thank you to everyone who joined the discussion, and special appreciation to WesselinkVanZijst for our continuous collaboration, which has enabled several initiatives in Finland and the Netherlands as well as cross-border ones like this!

Watch the recording:

 

The presentation slides can be found here!