6th EPAH Practitioners' Event: Making energy communities inclusive

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6th EPAH Practitioners' Event: Making energy communities inclusive: Fair participation, inclusive governance and shared benefits in Northern Europe

Energy communities are increasingly recognized as socio-technical innovations that can support decarbonization while deepening democratic engagement in energy systems. In Northern Europe, the distinctive regional dynamics (i.e., high heat demand, remote geographies, financial burdens, and aging populations) shape patterns of energy poverty where households struggle to secure minimum heating, electricity, and basic energy services at an affordable cost. 

Energy communities, therefore, may offer a pathway to address energy poverty by redistributing benefits (e.g., lower energy bills, local revenues, targeted retrofits) and strengthening collective capacity to foster local value creation and resilience. However, they can also create inequality if participation is limited to those with financial resources, property ownership, and high energy literacy. Without inclusion and local participation, energy communities may become a decarbonization mechanism that overlooks those most affected by high energy burdens.

This session brings together interdisciplinary perspectives and practical examples to examine inclusion as a design and governance challenge for energy communities, exploring barriers for participation and distributional justice, inclusive governance models, and benefit-sharing approaches.

The event is co-hosted by EPAH's Finnish antenna, Tampere University. 

Agenda

Event moderator: Raúl Castaño de la Rosa

(5') Welcome​

(25') Keynote "Understanding energy poverty in the Nordics and the potential of energy communities to address it", Dr.Sini Numminen, Aalto University

(40') Participatory Discussion on the concept of inclusivity, and the role of energy communities to support the just transition 

(5’) Break

(45') Roundtable on inclusivity, implementation, operation in energy communities

• Dr. Jani Lukkarinen, Finnish Environmental Institute (Finland)
• Prof. Jenny Palm, Lund University Sweden (Sweden)

Closing

Registration is mandatory for this event.

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