Tartu helping to create Pan-European tool for mitigating climate change
Tartu City Government Press Release
/ The City of Tartu is participating as a pilot city in the research and innovation project MICAT (Multiple Impacts Calculation Tool), the goal of which is to develop an online tool to assess the impact of climate change mitigation and energy efficiency measures in Europe.
The project will see the creation of MICAT, a free, easy-to-use, and science-based web tool, which will enable policymakers and specialists to carry out simplified analyses using data, in order to compare and assess the influence of different factors on energy use.
Three MICAT pilot cities will be helping to co-create and test the tool at the local level: Calvia, in Portugal; Vitoria-Gasteiz, in Spain; and Tartu, in Estonia. The common denominator for all of them is that they either develop or update their Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAP).
‘There is still much to be done in terms of implementing the European Green Deal and meeting the ambitious climate goals that have been set. Studies have shown that energy conservation alone is often not sufficient enough as an argument to persuade consumers and policymakers to invest in energy efficiency. Highlighting the other positive effects of energy efficiency measures can help fill this gap and facilitate decision-making,’ explained Deputy Mayor Raimond Tamm.
Work began in the spring of 2021, with a demo version of MICAT set to be completed in 2022, and the tool being made publicly available in 2023. Seminars have already been held in the pilot cities, where metrics were selected and issues related to the use and availability of data at the local government level were discussed.
The MICAT tool will be developed within the framework of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. More information about the project can be found at: micat-project.eu/.
Last changed 25.01.2022
