To reach the goal of becoming a natural gas-free city, the municipality of Amsterdam has to move towards more sustainable heat sources. Unlike the electricity- and gas market, there are no European guidelines for heat. This raises the question of how to govern sustainable, collective heat. This master’s thesis explores how the municipality of Amsterdam currently governs her heat grids, how the upcoming legislations might affect this, and what lessons could be learned from the way two case studies governed their collective heat grids. This research is done through a document analysis, and a case comparison through interviews. The interviews insights showed that the municipality of Amsterdam currently struggles with creating a feasible business case, a lack of trust from stakeholders (mainly residents, and weak management tools. The WCW and WGIW will most likely not change anything about this. The cases of Mijnwater and Clyde Gateway showed how there is still a knowledge imbalance regarding 5th generation district heating and cooling. These cases proved there’s a need for strong leadership, clear communication, and a need to start looking at heat differently (as a service instead of a commodity). The research results in a synthesis with recommendations for the municipality of Amsterdam on how to govern collective heat.