Guidance for the Implementation of Climate and Energy Dialogue Platforms
Completed: March 2025
Prepared by: Giulia Pizzini, Giulia Viero, Jen Heemann (IEECP)
Reviewed by: Thibaut Maraquin (Energy Cities), Marine Perrio, Tomislav Novosel (IEECP)
Graphic design: Agata Smok
A roadmap for inclusive climate governance
To achieve climate neutrality, national policies must be more than top-down mandates—they need to be co-created, inclusive, and aligned across all levels of governance. The LIFE NECPlatform project tackled this challenge by helping six EU Member States—Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Italy, Portugal, and Romania—establish permanent Climate and Energy Dialogue (CED) Platforms, ensuring that national, regional, and local governments work together in shaping energy and climate policies.
This publication is a practical guide (which I had pleasure to design) for setting up and managing these platforms. Designed for policymakers, civil society, and energy stakeholders, it distills best practices into a structured, actionable framework. The goal? To make multi-level governance not just a requirement under EU law, but a reality that accelerates Europe’s energy transition.
A design that turns complexity into clarity
With a wealth of content—policy assessments, step-by-step guidance, best practices from six countries, and ready-to-use templates—the challenge was to transform this into an intuitive, visually engaging resource.
The layout needed to support seamless navigation, making it easy for readers to find what they need, whether they’re building a new platform from scratch or refining an existing one.
The design approach focused on:
📌 A structured journey – A four-step methodology, guiding users through each phase of setting up and running a CED platform, with real-world examples to illustrate success.
📌 A toolkit for action – Practical materials, including invitations, participation agreements, and Memorandums of Understanding, ensuring immediate applicability.
📌 Visual clarity – Clean typography, strategic color use, and an intuitive hierarchy that transforms dense policy content into an accessible, user-friendly document.
Collaboration under tight deadlines
This publication came to life under a demanding timeline, requiring close coordination between content creators, designer, and printer to meet the deadline for the final event on March 17. The result is a polished, high-impact document that doesn’t just inform—it empowers.
Launched as a living resource, these guidelines will continue to evolve, helping EU Member States refine their governance models and strengthen collaboration across all levels. By making complex policy frameworks more accessible and actionable, this project is one step closer to ensuring Europe’s climate and energy transition is built on dialogue, inclusion, and shared vision.
Proud to have played a role in shaping this essential publication—turning policy into practice, one well-designed page at a time.
