The overall vision of the Horizon 2020 project Energy Citizens for Inclusive Decarbonization (ENCLUDE) is to help the EU to fulfill its promise of a just and inclusive decarbonization pathway through sharing and co-creating new knowledge and practices that maximize the number and diversity of citizens who are willing and able to contribute to the energy transition.
In the transformation of the energy system, citizens are becoming increasingly important as engaged, involved and shaping participants. This role of participatory energy consumers is reflected in the term "energy citizen". ENCLUDE aims to share new knowledge and motivate the broadest possible population to contribute to the energy transition.
SSH CENTRE (Social Sciences and Humanities for Climate, Energy aNd Transport Research Excellence) will engage directly with stakeholders across research, policy, and business (including citizens) to strengthen social innovation, SSH-STEM collaboration, transdisciplinary policy advice, inclusive engagement, and SSH communities across Europe, accelerating the EU’s transition to carbon neutrality.
SH CENTRE will be based in a range of activities related to Open Science, inclusivity and diversity – especially with regards Southern and Eastern Europe and different career stages – including: development of novel SSH-STEM collaborations to facilitate the delivery of the EU Green Deal; SSH knowledge brokerage to support regions in transition; and the effective design of strategies for citizen engagement in EU R&I activities. Outputs include action-led agendas and building stakeholder synergies through regular Policy Insight events.
DIALOGUES central methodological pillar is grounded in tested inter and transdisciplinary techniques, with a spotlight on open innovation and co-design of the research process through novel Citizen Action Lab in 8 countries
DIALOGUES will render it practical for planning policies, planning interactions between the public and the energy system, and for understanding general trends of citizen participation in energy topics.
DIALOGUES will understand the broader trends in energy as they become salient topics in citizens’ lives, how the adoption of different energy-related actions and perceptions are related to each other (within and between individuals) and to the prevailing regulatory and policy framework.
DIALOGUES will foster the direct participation of and dialogue between citizens, policymakers, public authorities, municipalities, consumer
SocialRES aims at closing non-technological research gaps that impede the widespread uptake of social innovation business and service models in the European energy sector. Through our research, we will set the basis for a better understanding of the socio-economic, socio-cultural, socio-political and gender factors that influence the behaviour of consumers in the energy system. What’s more, we will foster the development of new cooperation patterns among the key enabling actors for energy democracy: cooperatives, energy aggregators and crowdfunding platforms.
SocialRES key Scientific Objectives (SOs):
- SO1. Comparative analysis of success potential
- SO2. Comprehensive assessment of cooperation potential
- SO3. Decision-making support and citizens empowerment
Gathering insights from the fields of law, economics and psychology, EC² will provide answers on how to facilitate and strengthen energy citizenship. Knowledge co-creation with municipalities, energy communities and citizens will enhance the research to deliver recommendations that support the EU’s energy and decarbonisation goals.
The project will develop a clear conceptualisation of energy citizenship and gather actionable insights into the optimal conditions for it to flourish. It places a special focus on the role of energy communities and how their set-up can help - or hinder - the creation of energy citizens.
The insights gained will lead to policies, tools and practices that will support the sustainable, just, inclusive transition to a low-carbon society with citizens at the centre.
GRETA studies solutions and provides recommendations on how to achieve civic energy empowerment through energy citizenship. The project has five objectives.
- To understand who energy citizens are.
- To understand how energy citizens act and interact.
- To develop and test behavioural strategies, approaches and models for facilitating energy citizenship.
- To realize impact by scaling approaches from local to regional, national, and supranational levels.
- To improve the policymaking process.
EnergyPROSPECTS (PROactive Strategies and Policies for Energy Citizenship Transformation) will work with a critical understanding of energy citizenship that is grounded in state-of-the-art Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) insights. Funded under the EU Horizon 2020 programme for three years, EnergyPROSPECTS aims to develop a broad understanding of energy citizenship as a policy concept, a sociotechnical imaginary, a knowing-of-governance, i.e. a social construction of desirable/normal civic agency in future energy systems.
The project will identify and examine a range of cross-cutting issues in energy citizenship, which will inform iterative typology development and criteria for case selection. Drawing on existing databases and a search for new cases, a selection of 500 initiatives, as well as mapping and typology refinement exercise to demonstrate the depth/breadth of the energy citizenship concept in theory and practice will be performed.