Another partner of the LC Districts project is North-West Croatia Regional Energy Agency (REGEA) based in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. REGEA has been contributing to the energy transition in Croatia since 2008. Its activities range from small scale local projects (such as retrofit of a local school) to large scale national and international strategic projects.
Our partner affirms that the topic of low carbon economy has not gained enough attention in Croatia. The announcement of the European Green Deal , Climate Law, and other relevant legislative actions have helped to raise some awareness of both government and general public. However, the actions are still driven be a proactive minority and not eagerly appreciated by public.
The awareness is specifically missing in the building sector. REGEA claims that it might be due to a lack of guidance from relevant ministries. In case of local governments, the main issue are lengthy procedures , and a relative mismatch between goals and concrete actions.
In the LC Districts project, REGEA wants to specifically focus on influencing the sectoral policies in the district heating domain and to modify the relevant policies in the new Operational Programme 2021-2027. Evidence-based approach using ex-ante evaluation of sectoral policies is envisaged. As a result, the relevant stakeholders are relevant ministries, including Energy and Environment, Construction, Regional Development, and EU funds, local governments, and district heating system operators.
