Bob D’Haeseleer

City Advisor for NetZeroCities, employed by ICLEI. Lead City Advisor on Limassol, Gozo, Leuven, Antwerp, Brussels, Warshawa, Lodz, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Groningen and Elbasan. MSc Geography, planning and Political Geography (graduated on ecological fallacies of democracy), Msc International Politics, energy democracy (graduated on correlation/causality of fossil fuels and democracy). Deputy Mayor of Eeklo (2013-2021) responsible for urban planning, permits, housing and energy. Created democratic support model for wind energy allowing 22 WT built without lawsuits, new legal framework for decentralized district heating, inclusive solar sharing project, and energy poverty scheme through lease-lending cooperative shares. Convinced we need to rethink and rebrand energy as a local product.