Handbook of Territorial and Local Development Strategies

All places are important to the future wellbeing of Europe. The European Union (EU) is committed to ensuring that the development potential of places is uncovered and valorised. Integrated territorial and local develop- ment strategies promoted by EU cohesion policy are relevant tools to sustain this process. The ‘Handbook of Territorial and Local Development Strategies’ provides valuable knowledge on how to design and implement integrated strategies in areas other than urban areas. It aims to serve managing authorities of operational programmes, local strategy owners as well as other stakeholders involved in the process. The Handbook is a joint initiative by the European Commission’s Directorates-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), and it benefits from the active contribution of policy-makers, practitioners and scholars

Crowdfunding Renewable Energy: A Practical Guide for Crowdfunding Platforms, Project Developers, Investors and Policy Makers

Crowdfunding can play an important role in the energy transition. With sufficient awareness of its potential among all stakeholders, crowdfunding is well matched to help address resulting funding gaps, provided we attract and sustain high-quality crowdfunding platforms targeted at renewable energy investment, raise awareness among project developers of the suitability of crowdfunding as an additional source of finance, better understand the behaviour of individual retail investors and their interest in crowdfunding renewable energy projects, and ensure that the regulatory governance of the range of marketplaces that have emerged is fit for purpose to allow further scaling up across Europe, and without stifling market forces or ongoing innovation in the sector. This booklet gathers important insights and recommendations in all these dimensions, drawing on a wealth of analysis of relevant data, industry and investor surveys, and stakeholder engagement across the sector. We complement this with a range of case studies that illustrate how far renewables crowdfunding has come in recent years