Citizen Participation

To achieve a ZEROcarbon Sonderborg before the end of 2029, it is very important that all stakeholders accountable for carbon emissions are motivated for a strong participation.

Sonderborg has 77.000 citizens living in urban and rural areas, in own houses, rented private owned houses or rented flats in house association owned houses.

As houses and people account for app 45% of all carbon emissions and private transportation accounts for another app. 17%, it is important to secure strong citizen participation.

In December 2008 ProjectZero invited local citizens to join what became the ZEROfamily learning program, where more than 100 families (406 family members) during 2009 learned how to save energy/water by picking the low hanging fruits.

In 2010 the ZEROhouse program was created based on the best practice learning from the ZEROfamily program. The program is focused on helping 18.600 private house owners in tge area to find the best solutions for energy retrofit of their average 64 years old homes.

In spring 2011 ProjectZero together with ChooseEV introduced electrical cars for testing by private families. During 2011-2013 80 families will get an opportunity to drive an electrical vehicle for free during a 3 months period. This testing will give important information to scientists and the car industry about how the new electrical cars can be implemented in the most efficient way into our daily life.