. Proposed actions should be able to:

• Establish a permanent dialogue and create/strengthen structured synergies between different administrative levels (regions, cities, national governments), stakeholders (e.g. civil society, communities, academia, industry and business, NGOs) and tools to reach ambitious and shared decarbonisation targets and better define the role and contribution of the regional/local level to the national energy and climate targets.
• Deliver governance or processes models to allow for robust and consistent reporting mechanisms, integrating vertical and horizontal administrative layers and delivering innovative monitoring and verification schemes mixing different approaches (e.g. top-down and bottom-up) and applying such models for the updating of NECPs in appropriate time horizon, taking into account the Energy Efficiency First principle.
• Make links to other ongoing initiatives and existing dialogue fora aimed at enhancing and implementing connected and relevant policies (e.g. Long-term Renovation Strategies, Recovery and Resilience Plans) and / or initiatives (e.g. existing Roundtables on Sustainable Energy, events organised in the framework of the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums).

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to € 1 750 000 would allow the specific objectives to be addressed appropriately. The funding rate is 95%.