Cooperating for a greener Central Europe: Renewable Energy Communities (REC) are crucial for the energy transition, driving local value creation and increasing public participation and acceptance. REC – made up of citizens, SMEs, and municipalities – can manage projects like district heating, renewable energy systems, and e-mobility infrastructure. These cooperative efforts mobilize know-how and financial investments, offering members benefits that vary by business model and legal framework, such as sharing electricity and heat. However, significant expertise is required to establish and expand RECs. For this reason, and due to different legal frameworks, energy communities are not equally represented in the project countries – Italy, Austria, Germany, Poland, Czech-Republic, Hungary and Croatia. This is where the project comes in to develop strategies for the establishment and improvement of energy communities, using innovative participative methods and a data-driven tool. These will be implemented through an Action Plan focused on improving REC performance, planning, and implementation. In the next step, the project will establish seven new RECs and improve five existing ones, with the goal of increasing energy performance, enhancing business models, reducing environmental impact, and addressing energy poverty.