EC² launches full set of energy citizenship policy briefs
15 January 2024
EC² is pleased to launch its full set of six policy briefs covering key issues for a just, sustainable and citizen-centred energy transition. The briefs offer comprehensive, research-based recommendations for facilitating and accelerating the transition at every level, from the EU to national and local contexts, with additional focus on a just transition in coal regions and policies for inclusive and motivated energy communities, based on insights from psychological studies.
Each brief, co-authored by ICLEI and EC²’s academic partners, succinctly highlights key takeaways for policymakers backed by interdisciplinary empirical research conducted as part of the project.
Project lead Daniel Botha of ICLEI said,
“Environmental and geopolitical considerations have seen a huge policy push towards a more renewable and decentralised energy regime across the EU in recent years. These policy briefs seek to contribute to the effective implementation of such policies, showing that their success is contingent on creating a truly holistic and context-specific enabling environment for more active citizen involvement in the energy transition.
The addition of new energy community actors and individual rights and responsibilities to more direct involvement in the transition is a welcome first step. Yet this needs to now be complemented with updates to the wider regulatory and economic framework, which still largely reflects a top-down producer-consumer relationship.
Two examples of recommendations are the focus on legislative coherence extending to domains beyond energy law (most notably housing and planning law), and the far greater guiding role required from intermediaries - particularly local and regional governments, but also civil society actors and local communities.
These briefs aim to guide policymakers at all levels, providing a clearer picture of the unique role that each level can play in the energy transition.”
The briefs will be launched at ICLEI’s Breakfast at Sustainability’s online event on February 14th, “Inclusion and justice in energy transition and energy communities”. This in-depth discussion will highlight recommendations, research results, and good practices for local governments and community energy initiatives, drawing on expertise from the EC2 project and its Community Energy Academy.
Find all six briefs below and on our downloads page:
Policy Brief 1. Energy Citizenship: A missing piece to the energy transition puzzle?
Policy Brief 2. How to mainstream energy citizenship in EU laws and tools
Policy Brief 3. How to mainstream energy citizenship at the national level
Policy Brief 4. Furthering energy citizenship in coal regions: the importance of sensitive, place-based transitions
Policy Brief 5. Localised support for establishing and joining energy communities: how local and regional governments can help further energy citizenship
Policy Brief 6. Recommendations for inclusive and empowered energy communities
