TIPS4PED and Citizens4PED take a step towards standardisation of Positive Energy Districts

While the rollout of Positive Energy Districts (PED) is a dedicated objective of European Climate Policies, their implementation and replication are in their initial steps. To support the more efficient replication across Europe two new CEN Workshops Agreements (CWA) on Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) are being prepared. They are the result of two projects, Citizens4PED and TIPS4PED. The projects engage in this action to boost replication and enhance knowledge sharing across Europe.  These projects deal with PEDs from complimentary perspectives: Citizens4PED has a focus on renewable energy communities as a key enabling mechanism which acknowledges the importance of involving citizens in the implementation process, while TIPS4PED is developing Digital Twins (DTs) for PEDs aiming to support a decision-support grounded in data.

More specifically, Citizens4PED takes a holistic approach towards the creation and implementation of Positive Energy Districts and attempts to align different aspects of energy and climate strategies in an urban context. In Citizens4PED, public participation and future users have been a core component in the thinking behind how we can create better energy and living together scenarios. The multidisciplinary approach of the consortium has contributed to PEDs in four neighbourhoods in Belgium, Austria and Italy.

The CEN Workshop led by Citizens4PED aims to address recurring challenges in the planning and implementation of PEDs, particularly in cities facing institutional fragmentation, limited technical capacity, or socio-spatial inequalities. These challenges were identified through participatory and analytical work packages within the project, including cross-case comparison, modelling tools, and a multi-stakeholder questionnaire. The CWA will offer a technical guidance document in the form of a guideline with recommendations, providing adaptable instruments to support local decision-makers, planners, and practitioners. The CWA seeks to support municipalities, planners and practitioners in designing PEDs that are feasible, inclusive, and locally tailored – especially in under-resourced or complex governance contexts. The launch of this particular CWA is imminent and you are able to join in!

Under the title “Guidelines for the Integrated and Context-Sensitive Development of Positive Energy Districts” the work will begin with a kick-off meeting on October 27th, 2025.

The CWA aims to provide a hybrid technical guidance document that combines:

• an Integration Framework for coordinating PED-related domains (technical, institutional, social, spatial),
• and a set of Context-Sensitive Guidelines for adaptable implementation and inclusive engagement in diverse urban settings.

More information on the Citizens4PED project is available at:

https://citizens4ped.eu

CEN Workshop Announcement: Link

It will support flexible implementation, without being prescriptive, imposing performance thresholds or proposing requirements

TIPS4PED will launch its CWA in early 2026. The project develops scalable and replicable digital solutions to implement Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) as integral components of sustainable urban transformation. TIPS4PED aims at developing a CEN Workshop as a means to formalise replicable frameworks. To date several barriers still exist in the development of replicable PEDS, such as fragmented data and interoperability challenges, limited integration with energy and mobility systems, absence of shared standards and reference architectures or gaps in purpose-driven digitalisation strategies. To address these, TIPS4PED proposes developing a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) that formalises replicable frameworks and interoperability mechanisms. This CWA is expected to strengthen the Missions ambition to blend digital solutions and climate actions s and strengthen enabling conditions for integrated energy and climate planning.

We will inform you about the next steps in TIPS4PED here – stay tuned!