Energy Citizenship: A Holistic Vision for Citizen Engagement in the European Energy Transition

EnergyPROSPECTS has examined the potential of energy citizenship to contribute to a more sustainable, just, and democratic European energy transition. Energy citizenship pertains to civic involvement and engagement in the energy transition. It can be practised at different levels of action, through different constellations of actors, in the fields of energy production, distribution, and energy consumption, and in the governance of the energy/climate transition. 

Today, energy transitions are going at different paces across the Union and citizen involvement and engagement are taking diverse forms4 that also vary according to the specific contexts of different Member States.5 EU policymakers are nonetheless becoming increasingly aware that public engagement will determine the success of energy and climate policy.6 The clean energy transition is becoming everyone’s business. What does this mean for citizens’ roles in the European energy transition? Building on three years of research, this policy brief presents the scope and diversity of citizen engagement in the energy transition, identifies barriers and opportunities, and proposes targeted recommendations for supporting effective energy citizenship in the European Union.

This policy brief was created by EnergyPROSPECTS (PROactive Strategies and Policies for Energy Citizenship Transformation).

Authors: Karin Thalberg and Marko Hajdinjak