Klimaan is a citizen movement from Greater Mechelen, founded in 2018, and focuses on the current climate issue with the district level as its work area. Together with residents it organises various campaigns and implements specific projects. In legal terms Klimaan is well organised. On the one hand there is Klimaan vzw, involved in different climate actions, on the other there is Klimaan Coöperatieve Vennootschap, which invests in local, sustainable projects. Anyone can become a cooperative member by purchasing a share. If you do, you become a shareholder in Klimaan and can jointly decide on future solutions. Members automatically get a say in the cooperative's policy, with one vote at the general meeting regardless of the number of shares purchased. The cooperative subsequently uses the capital raised to invest in sustainable projects. Future profits can be shared between the cooperative members, now over eight hundred, in the form of a dividend. The first project the cooperative carried out was to install solar panels on the town hall and library in Bonheiden. In practice Klimaan was responsible for installing the solar panels, concluding the necessary insurance policies, maintenance and follow-up. The municipality pays for the power supplied, which constitutes the return on the investment.

One example of a campaign by the NPO is ‘LED Op!’, a collective purchase of LED bulbs for private individuals. Such a simple intervention not only contributes to more agreeable lighting, but also to reducing energy bills and considerably fewer CO2 emissions. In total, over 2,500 bulbs were sold. This equates to savings of 150,000 kWh/year, or 34,000 kg CO2 emissions on an annual basis.