THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS - recommends streamlining the various national support schemes as far as necessary at European level in order to ensure that they can contribute to reaching the Sustainable Development goals, the Paris Agreement targets and the objectives of the European energy Union; - calls for non-discriminatory rules on market access for local energy communities, for local energy communities to be promoted by means of policies and legislation recognising their role and specific needs, for policies and rules promoting local and regional cooperation, for the adoption of simplified and proportionate regulatory and administrative procedures, and for ready access to technical and economic information, guidance and finance; - recognises that European legislation must establish a level playing field and minimum requirements for the promotion of local energy communities, so that the EU can lead by example; - recalls, that it is important to ensure that clear definitions and rules provide certainty to ensure that LECs can play a positive role in a just energy transition and calls on the Member States to exploit their full potential. This includes the need for them to have access to financial instruments and/or partnership schemes in order to mitigate the risks accompanying investments in LECs, as well as correcting any negative bias against them; - recommends that dedicated finance support schemes be set up for local energy communities, particularly during the planning and set-up phases, with ready access to technical information and guidance about setting up, financing and operating community projects; - considers that LRAs have a key role to play in creating awareness among their citizens about the opportunities of becoming involved in the local energy sector and distributing relevant information.