Celebrating a Year of Collaboration and Progress with ASCEND
As 2025 draws to a close, it’s the perfect moment to celebrate a year of energy, innovation, and collaboration for the ASCEND project. Across Europe, partners and cities have been turning the vision of Positive Clean Energy Districts into reality, with a strong focus on scaling by design, ensuring solutions can be adapted, shared, and implemented widely.
This year offered wonderful opportunities to connect, learn, and share experiences. ASCEND was represented at the Sustainable Places Conference, where dialogue with other European Commission projects highlighted how citizen engagement, co-creation, and digital tools are shaping the energy transition. Enlit Europe brought together energy experts and city representatives from across Europe, with ASCEND sharing insights on governance, business models, and digital tools for scaling energy-transition initiatives. The Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona was a standout moment, giving ASCEND the chance to showcase its Lighthouse and Multiplier Cities’ solutions to a global audience of city leaders, innovators, and policymakers.
This year, ASCEND also hosted three Business Model sessions focused on PCED affordability, Energy Communities, and Citizen Engagement. Cities had the opportunity to work hands-on with the PCED Business Model Assembler, a physical card game mirrored in a digital tool that enables collaborative design of governance, business, and operational models. The Assembler turns the PCED development process into an iterative, evidence-based workflow, helping cities explore solutions and plan scalable, climate-positive districts.
The ASCEND General Assembly in Budapest was another highlight of the year, bringing partners and city representatives together for three days of discussions, planning, and knowledge exchange in a city committed to sustainable and inclusive urban development. Lighthouse Cities Lyon and Munich showcased district-scale interventions such as retrofitting, renewable integration, and digital twins, while Multiplier Cities including Budapest, Alba Iulia, Charleroi, Porto, Prague, and Stockholm highlighted practical solutions being implemented on the ground. The Assembly underscored ASCEND’s collaborative approach, reinforcing the importance of partnership, shared learning, and hands-on problem solving.
From pilot initiatives to implementation, 2025 has shown that Positive Clean Energy Districts are no longer just a vision, they are a collaborative, growing practice shaping inclusive and sustainable cities across Europe.
A Year of Impact: ASCEND Cities Advance Positive Clean Energy Districts
Across Europe, ASCEND cities made significant strides in 2025 toward creating Positive Clean Energy Districts, advancing renewable energy, strengthening citizen engagement, and driving sustainable urban planning. In Porto, a digital platform to simulate energy sharing among community members was completed, while PV systems totaling 854 kWp were installed in social housing. Energy literacy sessions, gamified competitions, and outreach events engaged schools and local residents, building awareness and participation in the city’s energy transition. Similarly, Prague is moving forward with the Dolní Počernice PCED, awarding the architectural design contract and has started the design phase of plans for 550 municipal apartments built to passive standards, connected to a local energy centre integrating geothermal, solar, and cogeneration technologies.
Citizen engagement remained central across ASCEND’s network of cities. In Budapest, a former school is being transformed into a Net Zero Energy co-housing pilot, combining apartments with shared spaces and innovative heating solutions, while the City Alliance Network continues to foster collaboration and participation. In Charleroi, a network of over 100 members are co-designing energy solutions and ensuring community driven approaches through events like hackathons and decarbonization events. Stockholm hosted the City Alliance Network Workshop, bringing together 70 experts from 20 cities to share knowledge on energy efficiency and local energy communities, while Alba Iulia highlighted its energy transition approach at a university symposium, demonstrating strong collaboration between municipalities, academia, and industry.
Lighthouse Cities also showcased ambitious urban transformations. Munich engaged residents through solar panel projects, installed EV charging points, and held workshops to incorporate nearly 100 community ideas into local energy planning. In Lyon, the Sainte Blandine neighborhood redevelopment was inaugurated in December marking the end of work on the 8,000m² space that has included the addition of trees, shrubs and plants, recreational and social areas and an alternative rainwater experiment. Lyon Confluence’s digital twin is Europe’s first PED monitored in real time and was also one of four finalists for the Energy and Environment Award at the Smart City Expo World Congress.
These initiatives demonstrate that ASCEND cities are turning ideas into practical action, combining technology, planning, and citizen engagement to create scalable, replicable Positive Clean Energy Districts across Europe. By integrating innovative solutions with local participation, ASCEND is helping cities move beyond pilot projects toward climate-positive urban change.
—
Wishing you all a happy holidays and restful end of the year.
Veronika and the ASCEND Team
