Europe in transition. Local communities leading the way to a low-carbon society.

A critical first step in establishing a support framework for local, community-based action on climate change is to better understand the existing situation in the EU, and to build links with the key stakeholders involved.

It was for this reason that between December 2012 and March 2013, the European Association for Information on Local Development (AEI DL) undertook a preliminary investigation, which led to the gathering of information on communitybased action on climate change in 13 EU countries.

This study built on previous information and contacts developed by AEIDL experts over a three year period, which helped to identify countries where community-based initiatives were known to exist.

This publication presents the results of this research and seeks to quantify the scale of activities (the number of active groups) in the countries concerned, their rate of development, the kinds of actions being undertaken, the key actors or organisation concerned and, where they exist, the structures that have evolved to assist and support local efforts.