ECCI project tackles challenge of high-emitting industrial regions

ECCI has led the development of a new set of indicators to help regions use a smart approach to transitioning from a high to a low carbon industrial base.

The centre partnered with EFIS and IBS for the EIT Climate-KIC funded project, Smart Transitions. It builds on the digital tools developed through the Online S3 project which ECCI piloted in Scotland. Online S3 produced a toolkit to enable regions to use a 'smart specialisation' approach to identifying their USPs and translating them into innovation strategies.

Smart Transitions reviewed these tools to identify those most relevant to regions looking to decarbonise their economy. The project identified a range of green indicators - metrics that could be used to establish a region's current position and measure its transition towards a low carbon economic model. It also conducted a macroeconomic assessment of the coal-dependent Slaskie Voivodeship and Konin subregions of Poland.

The findings were unveiled at a stakeholder workshop at the UN climate change conference in Poland in December 2018.

Project sponsor, ECCI Executive Director Ed Craig, said: “It's vital that Europe moves away from high carbon industries - especially 'sunset' industries in long term economic decline - to more sustainable, low carbon alternatives.

"The Online S3 platform has the potential to support this process through tailored tools for smart economic growth - so we set out to identify how it could be adapted to help.

"The Smart Transitions project identified new, comprehensive green indicators that could be incorporated into the toolkit and engaged in depth with two coal-dependent regions, providing a strong foundation for future work."

ECCI and its partners are planning to develop a larger scale project bid during 2019 to take the Smart Transitions work to the next stage.

Get the lowdown

Want to read more about the ECCI project that laid the groundwork for Smart Transitions?