Title: TASK: Develop a vision – your mission statement
Course: Project week - Leuphana-Copy > Section: Day 2

Your city’s mission statement is the first building block of your community energy plan.

An effective energy vision statement offers a representation of what the community wants to look like 10-20 years into the future. A clearly articulated, transparent, and shared vision of the community’s energy future sets the direction for subsequent decisions about goals, strategies, and actions.

Before you start developing Leinwig’s energy vision statement, look at how this can be done most effectively. Below you will find important characteristics of a convincing vision:

- Vivid: Paint a picture of the desired future.
- Inspirational and meaningful: Connect people to the effort.
- Unique to the local situation: Speak to the local community’s culture and values.
- Simply stated and easy to understand: Communicate clearly to the target groups.

Now it’s your turn. Develop a focused energy vision statement that outlines what Leinwig will look like once you implemented your energy transition project successfully. This mission statement will outline your overall project goal and lead you throughout the working process.  Preparing such a high-level statement can be tricky.

To develop a mission statement, follow these steps:

Step 1: Review Leinwig’s climate action targets as specified in the mayor’s letter. Be sure that your energy vision statement includes these goals implicitly or explicitly.

Step 2: Start with three words. Find a powerful three-word vision and then only add words you absolutely need to complete it.

Step 3: Ask yourself and your fellow students what one outcome you/they would most like to see. Collect those suggestions (on a wall or chalkboard) and try to generate a vision statement that incorporates them all.

Step 4: Think about what is impossible, and then back off just a bit to end up with an ambitious but achievable vision.

Step 5: Focus on the “critical verb” and use it in the future tense – for example, what will Leinwig:

be | generate | avoid
build | create | reduce
produce | lead | eliminate

Step 6: Study the vision statements adopted by other cities. Below are a few examples of community-wide energy strategic visions. Notice that they show a range from very broad and general statements to more-specifically energy related. Which of these examples would you consider to be most effective? Why?

BROAD | We want Austin to be the most livable community in the country. – Austin, TX
 | Reduce climate change impact, and become the renewable energy capital of Canada. – Toronto, ON
 | Albany is a model of community health and sustainability in its planning, restorative development, and conservation of energy, water, and natural resources. – Albany, NY
 | Assuring reliable, affordable, and clean electricity is essential to the continued attraction and retention of [New York] businesses and residents. – New York, NY
SPECIFIC | Montpelier and its neighboring communities will be leaders in creating an economically sustainable and environmentally responsible community reducing fossil fuel consumption by at least 80% by 2030. – Montpelier, VT

[fa-comments-o] You can also collect and discuss your ideas in the Course Forum.

Extra

Review different ways of formulating climate action goals as suggested here.

Make sure that your energy vision statement encompasses the climate targets specified in the mayor’s letter (greenhouse gas reduction rate, share of renewable energy sources, time frame).