October 1^st – These days in Brussels it’s hard to move around without bumping into a ‘vision’ for 2050 but whose visions are they and whose interests do they really reflect? For the district energy community, there is no more important partner than the cities and communities our networks are meant to serve. With this in mind, instead of presenting them with a vision of what we can offer to them, we’ve decided to start by asking them what they want!

Their challenging and inspiring replies make it clear the future of our business will be about two things; growth and change. Cities all over Europe are counting on district energy networks to deliver decarbonised, efficient, reliable and affordable heating and cooling and they cannot and will not wait until 2050 to see it happen.

Meeting these great expectations will require ambition, commitment and clarity of purpose from our industry, but this won’t be enough on its own. We’ll need to work in partnership with policy-makers at local, national and EU level, other energy network operators, our customers, and the wider stakeholder community in order to make all the pieces fit. Because in the end, we’re all connected!