On Wednesday 26 March, stakeholders involved in the KIN ACT Work Programme – Accelerating Just Climate Transitions in Urban Regions met in the council chamber of the Municipality of Eindhoven. The agenda included sharing the interim results of ACT, presentations of Eindhoven neighbourhood initiatives, the theme ‘Healthy Climate Transition’ and a working session aimed at defining end products for the different target groups within the research projects. The focus during the day was on cooperation with local stakeholders and developing concrete end products such as a roadmap for different target groups and better tailored communication. The KIN ACT work programme focuses on applying knowledge, not re-examining it. This means active collaboration throughout the process and defining the end product together.
How do you organize a just climate transition?
How to develop cities in an equitable way throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands, including the Caribbean division. Joyce Brown and Marthe Singelenberg kicked off the meeting substantively with the steps those involved in this work package have taken recently. Work has been done on a shared definition of climate justice that will be set out in a handbook this summer. In addition, a network and collaboration has been formed around climate justice. Furthermore, stakeholders are focusing on fostering transdisciplinary cooperation with the KIN and external stakeholders to integrate climate justice into their work.
Case: Climate Justice Rotterdam
As a case example, the organisation Klimaatrechtvaardig Rotterdam presented the projects ‘Rotterdams Weeruttal’ and ‘INTERREG – Just green policy’. These deal with just climate adaptation in Rotterdam, and whether current greening initiatives are just. As a tool, Klimaatrechtvaardig Rotterdam uses the justice wheel, in which themes such as housing situation, income, language, gender, citizenship, migration background, education, physical disability, sexuality, neurodiversity, mental health and skin colour are reflected.
Eindhoven neighbourhood initiatives
On the basis of interviews with the carters of three neighbourhood initiatives, ACT work package owner and researcher Rob van der Rijt shows what steps have been made in Eindhoven with, among others, greening initiative ‘Adopt a street’, the advice and purchasing actions for Eindhoven’s energy transition ‘040 energy’ and car-sharing initiative ‘Iris Electric’ in which 30 drivers are united who share 3 cars. The carters gave concrete tips to municipalities:
- Hook residents into a neighbourhood initiative and keep them engaged with regular communication. This can be done with flyers, letters, neighbourhood newspaper, social media, etc.
- An independent party/organisation can enter the conversation with residents and with the municipality to make a climate transition equitable.
- Simplify subsidy schemes greatly.
- Support residents’ initiatives; talk to each other and work together. You often have the same goals.
- Ensure transparency in municipal plans towards residents. Also make the roadmap concrete and visible.
- Ensure continuity and clarity for citizens’ initiatives.
How do you organise a healthy climate transition?
That Eindhoven is committed to a ‘healthy climate transition’ shows Rik Thijs, alderman for climate, energy, land and greening at the municipality of Eindhoven. For instance, Eindhoven municipality considers energy transition as a combination of a technological, financial and a social challenge. The municipality of Eindhoven has therefore set up a public energy company (Eindhoven Energie) whose aim is to take up and realise public interests to promote sustainable energy supply in the built environment. They have also set up a ‘job bus’, hired energy coaches and purchased the Philips estate De Wielewaal. This provides more greenery in the city to promote the health of residents.
Poorest neighbourhoods, hottest districts
Yara ten Pas (Healthy Environment Advisor, GGD) shows how much climate change affects health. Heat is an important factor, with specific vulnerable groups needing extra attention. Certainly people with poor living conditions often face poorer health. An unhealthy living environment is often a major cause. So climate justice is also about health. The poorest neighbourhoods are the warmest neighbourhoods. The GGD gives advice to municipalities and residents, answers questions, contributes to municipalities’ local heat plans and monitors heat and greenery in the city. The advice? Involve residents. Make sure residents have a cool green space in their neighbourhood and are invited to exercise.
Tired of being studied
WIJeindhoven employs neighbourhood and community workers, says Linda van de Griendt. They know the neighbourhood well and discover together with residents what they are good at and what they like to do to make their neighbourhood nicer. This results in initiatives such as a language café, a food forest and a share cupboard. The municipality of Eindhoven supports it with grants. For a citizens’ initiative to last, it is important to involve several people. How can research contribute to these initiatives? Linda warns against research fatigue among residents. The key is to really engage with residents and, in doing so, connect with their needs. Don’t set yourself up as an ‘outsider’ coming to collect information, but show that you want to contribute to fulfilling their needs. Work together.
Mixed working sessions: delivering a relevant final product
In the afternoon, those involved in the work packages engaged in a work session to find out which target groups to engage and what end products they will deliver. Persona maps helped work package members think about the different stakeholder perspectives. What will you deliver and how will that help me? The session discussed possible ‘deliverables’, for the individual work packages, but also the delivery of joint products, such as a checklist for integrating equity principles and one for opportunities and risks, and ways to deal with them and accelerate climate transitions effectively and equitably. It was concluded that cooperation should be sought with local stakeholders, with diversity being important.
The afternoon ended with the question of how to fulfil the desire for alignment between work packages and working together towards a more concrete end product. Mentioned were a roadmap for different target groups such as municipalities, social organisations, neighbourhoods and residents. This should take into account the different needs of each group. At the same time, there is an awareness that the impact is not there only after the project is finished, but during the learning process (‘mutual learning’) that accompanies the development of the final product.
Heleen de Coninck (Chair of the ACT Supervisory Committee) closed the meeting by emphasising the mission of the KIN, which is not to create new knowledge, but to apply existing knowledge through local stakeholders. ‘Never forget to ask the question, ‘what am I doing and how does that help local stakeholders?’ Work actively with them throughout the process and determine the final product together. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the original plan. Be scientists, but don’t be researchers!’
The next meeting of the KIN ACT Work Programme will take place in October 2025.
About the KIN ACT Work Programme
The KIN ACT work programme aims to accelerate climate transitions in different neighbourhoods in the Netherlands in an equitable way. It is the first work programme set up by the KIN and was officially launched in September 2024. ACT is based on co-creation; various scientists and participants from the field work together to develop local action plans and agendas and promote cooperation between concerned residents, housing associations, neighbourhood workers, civil servants, local entrepreneurs and sustainability professionals. ACT is part of the KIN Pact.
