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initiatives. I can best illustrate this based on experiences in my
hometown of Amsterdam. I am involved in the 02025 project, a
bottom-up initiative in which about 2,000 ambassadors from
different neighbourhoods work on the city’s energy transition and
simultaneously create jobs for people in these neighbourhoods.
As an ambassador in my own neighbourhood, I have managed to
get things done. Solar panels now rest on my apartment building’s
rooftop, and I have shared my experience in arranging this with
others intending to adopt a similar initiative. I am also in close
contact with energy supplier ENGIE, which installed the heat cold
storage units in our neighbourhood. I have encouraged the company
to assess the neighbourhood buildings’ energy performance
and investigate additional improvement measures (e.g. the use of
sustainable energy for powering the heat cold storage units). A lot
is happening in other neighbourhoods too. This reveals a powerful
network of citizens in the city seeking to contribute to our future
challenges. I actively participate in the core group of the 02025
movement to increase its strength and execution power. We do,
however, need the municipality. The councillor is willing to support
our initiative, but the formal procedures hamper easy cooperation.
This problem also occurs in other citizen initiatives, for example, in
developing energy cooperatives. If municipalities would embrace
network governance, they could actively use the power of the
people in neighbourhoods to help realise their climate goals.
Municipalities, together with these citizens, would decide how to
divide roles and responsibilities. Citizen groups would then get the
mandate to assist the municipality in executing climate actions.
Network governance can boost implementation of circular initiatives
tremendously. It can align the growing number of inspiring
standalone initiatives, thereby establishing a firmer, circular
economy movement. By complementing conventional public
governance with this new form of governance, the best of both
worlds is created. It strengthens the positive forces in society and
gives a voice to those who sometimes do not feel heard by the
government. At the same time, network governance helps realise