Leiedal, BE

Leiedal is an intercommunal organisation bringing together 13 cities and municipalities from the Kortrijk region, located in the west of Belgium. This region has a population of approximately 300,000 inhabitants and is committed to play its part in the development of innovative solutions for climate change mitigation. More housing renovation dynamics and increased energy performance of buildings contribute to this goal.

To this end, the thirteen local governments decided to sign the Covenant of Mayors in 2013. One year before, Leiedal drafted a ‘regional energy strategy’ with the aim of becoming a carbon neutral region by 2050. Between 2005 and 2015, the CO2 emissions in the region have already been cut by 15% and Leiedal intends to achieve a 30% reduction by 2020. To meet these objectives, the intercommunal organisation intends to decrease the energy consumption of its housing stock, that is currently accounting for 40% of its CO2 emissions. In the framework of the European project North Sea SEP, Leiedal has implemented a monitoring system to measure the CO2 emissions in the region and thus better identify priorities for energy planning.

In addition, even though there are limited opportunities for renewable energy development in the area, the generation of renewable energy has increased from 3 to 8% between 2005 and 2015 and the cities’ association is planning to intensify its efforts in this field in the coming years. Furthermore, Leiedal is already promoting energy saving in business parks, coaching families in energy efficient building refurbishment and investing in sustainable mobility in the framework of several projects that are currently being carried out. To further reduce energy consumption, the cities also intend to install a system for smart public lighting. Leiedal coordinates the cooperation between public stakeholders on housing policies. They aim at tackling barriers for housing renovation (advice, financing, execution of work…) and seek catalysing unburdening of households through triple helix- stakeholder involvement.

Being a Replication City will represent an opportunity for Leiedal to share experiences and best practices with other European partners on the development of new technologies regarding district heating and cooling and smart grids for renewable energy integration.