The active involvement and empowerment of the people in the energy sector is crucial to the transition to a clean energy society. Therefore, EC2 seeks to scale-up energy citizenship and energy-communities. The project provides evidence-based practical guidance to strengthen energy citizenship and their potential to the EU’s energy and decarbonization goals.
The project provides an interdisciplinary understanding of energy citizenship and the psychological, legal and economic factors supporting, or hindering, the emergence of citizens in energy communities. One of the outputs of the project will be a quantitative scale to assess the psychological manifestations of energy citizenship in individuals.
Special attention is paid to the inclusivity in energy citizenship. The project studies the preferences and challenges of different social groups in becoming an energy citizen and joining an energy community. Communities, stakeholders, and citizens are engaged in the co-creation and evaluation of the tools developed in the project.
ICLEI seeks to ensure the accessibility of the project findings to a wider audience in order to sustain the impact of EC2. Practical recommendations are developed for and discussed with policy makers in different levels to better support energy citizenship and communities. ICLEI will also provide an online training program, “Energy Citizenship Academy”, and tailored Empowerment Kits for local actors, citizens, and other interested stakeholders to access the project knowledge and begin to implement it in their own contexts.
The EC2 consortium is led by the Centre for Social Innovation in Austria. The project is a joint effort between academia, practice-oriented local actors, and global networks. In addition to working closely with the regions represented in the consortium (Poland, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Austria), the project also seeks to have an active outreach and dialogue with relevant initiatives, projects and stakeholders across EU, Associated countries, and beyond.