Samsø Energy Academy, a non-profit organisation on the island of Samsø, Denmark is working with the consequences of climate change. Key staff members have been instrumental in the community driven clean energy transition of the island of Samsø (1997 – 2007), which led to negative net annual CO2 emissions with community engagement, participation and ownership. For these achievements, the Samsø Energy Academy has received the EU RESponsible Island Prize for 2019, and in November 2021 Samsø has been recognised and awarded as ’Climate Leader’ by the UN at COP26 in Glasgow.

The Samsø Energy Academy has been a strategic partner of the island’s local authority (Samsø Kommune) in the effort to make Samsø completely fossil free and independent of fossil fuels by 2030. In addition, the Samsø Energy Academy has unique expertise in community building, stakeholders’ engagement and participatory processes.

It has been sharing the example from Samsø, which has become a brand name worldwide for community driven clean energy transition, with thousands of community leaders, policy makers and governments from around the world. It has 16 years of experience in EU funded projects and has received grants from the European Union, the Danish Government and private Funds worth of several million euros to deliver state-of-the art work on energy planning, research and development, capacity and leadership building, and social innovation. It has several experienced Project Managers, a very strong communication team and a Managing Director who among other recognitions has received the Gothenburg Award, the Nobel equivalent for the environment, for his role in Samsø’s participatory energy transition process and whom the Time Magazine has named Hero of the Environment.

In the project’s framework, the Samsø Energy Academy will transfer the best practice and know-how from the successful case study of Samsø. It will building capacity and provide guidance on participatory processes and energy planning in regions in Iceland, Slovenia, Sweden and Spain with the aim to support a clean energy transition planning that is embedded in the territories and enable the development of community-driven clean energy projects that have local support