Tapping into the potential of women for supporting renewable energy in the heating and cooling market (W4RES)

The heating and cooling market accounts for 50% of the total energy consumed in Europe each year for domestic and industrial purposes. Given the high dependency on fossil fuels and the challenges of climate change, it is more urgent than ever to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources.

The EU project W4RES (Women for market uptake of Renewable Energy Sources), in which Steinbeis Europa Zentrum was involved as a partner has supported female entrepreneurs, researchers and climate protection managers in the cooling and heating sector from 2021-2023. Although women play a crucial role in the fight against climate change, they are still underrepresented in the field of renewable energies and in the renewable cooling and heating sector worldwide.

Targeted support actions were implemented and evaluated from 2021-2023 in eight different regional centres in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway and Slovakia. 56 women received practical support on market introduction in two rounds, including a selection of over 70 individual support services as well as the opportunity to participate in collective support services. For example, they were able to take part in a two-day training course on EU proposal writing and EU funding or in training courses on gender-responsive business concept planning.

W4RES provided a set of solutions to significantly and measurably reduce the time and effort required to develop and implement RHC projects. An online platform and regional hubs provide networking, information exchange and co-creation activities to define new actions to drive RHC market uptake.

Steinbeis Europa Zentrum has coordinated the selection of projects and communication through the Hub Managers. Specifically, the projects are supported in terms of business model design, access to finance, networking and mentoring.

Committed women contribute to market development in the renewable heating and cooling sector by working on 56 innovation projects - Steinbeis Europa Zentrum promotes two women-led start-ups - Steinbeis EN (steinbeis-europa.de)

Further information:

• Project name acronym: W4RES- Women for market uptake of renewable heating and cooling
• Funding: European Commission
• Funding budget for all partners: 2.9 M EUR
• Participating countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway and Slovakia
• Duration: 11/2020 - 10 /2023