Can Peer-to-Peer Learning Support Energy Transition in Cities and Regions?

Abstract

Between February and April 2018, two regional authorities and one city in Europe engaged in a peer-to-peer learning programme to learn about energy performance contracting, an innovative scheme for financing and implementing energy efficiency projects in the public building and public lighting sectors. These public authorities were the pilot participants of PROSPECT: Peer Powered Cities and Regions, a European Commission—Horizon 2020 project. PROSPECT aims to encourage the exchange of knowledge and experience on innovative financing schemes, such as energy performance contracting, to implement sustainable energy and climate action plans to deliver an energy transition in cities and regions. In this chapter, we present the development of a peer-to-peer learning methodology, highlight the lessons learned from the pilot implementation, describe the pilot participants’ learning outcomes, and examine the factors that may influence learning. From our experience in developing and implementing this learning programme, we highlight the importance of having intermediate organisations and leading facilitators in place; setting up pre-foundational engagements; enabling foundational and structured learning engagements; simplifying the process of reducing administrative demands; paying attention to language differences; addressing transaction costs involved; and diffusing learning to foster impact at scale. We observed learning outcomes ranging from cognitive and relational changes to skill development and action orientation, at the individual, network, and institutional levels in the short and medium terms. However, we have yet to monitor long-term learning outcomes. In this learning programme, factors that may have influenced learning included intermediate organisations, the role of a leading person, willingness to share knowledge, and clarity of the issue at stake. Future studies could further examine the learning outcomes of peer-to-peer learning programmes in the field of delivering energy transition in cities and regions.