Abstract

Statistical accounting of the impacts of citizen-led energy initiatives is absent, despite their impact on increased energy self-sufficiency and ramping up of renewable energies, local sustainable development, greater citizen engagement, diversification of activities, social innovation, and acceptance of transition measures. This paper quantifies the aggregate contributions of collective action in pursuit of the sustainable energy transition in Europe. We estimate the number of initiatives (10,540), projects (22,830), people involved (2,010,600), installed renewable capacities (7.2–9.9 GW), and investments made (6.2–11.3 billion EUR) for 30 European countries. Our aggregate estimates do not suggest that collective action will replace commercial enterprises and governmental action in the short or medium term without fundamental alterations to policy and market structures. However, we find strong evidence for the historical, emerging, and actual importance of citizen-led collective action to the European energy transition. Collective action in the energy transition is experimenting successfully with new business models in the energy sector. Continued decentralization of energy systems and more stringent decarbonization policies will increase the importance of these actors in the future.

Details

Title
Statistical evidence for the contribution of citizen-led initiatives and projects to the energy transition in Europe
Author
Schwanitz, Valeria Jana 1 ; Wierling, August 2 ; Arghandeh Paudler, Heather 2 ; von Beck, Constantin 2 ; Dufner, Simon 2 ; Koren, Ingrid Knutsdotter 2 ; Kraudzun, Tobias 2 ; Marcroft, Timothy 2 ; Mueller, Lukas 3 ; Zeiss, Jan Pedro 2 

 Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Environmental Sciences, Sogndal, Norway (GRID:grid.477239.c) (ISNI:0000 0004 1754 9964); The Schumacher Institute, The Create Centre, Bristol, UK (GRID:grid.500864.f) (ISNI:0000 0001 0838 5775) 
 Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Environmental Sciences, Sogndal, Norway (GRID:grid.477239.c) (ISNI:0000 0004 1754 9964) 
 Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Department of Environmental Sciences, Sogndal, Norway (GRID:grid.477239.c) (ISNI:0000 0004 1754 9964); Technical University of Darmstadt, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Darmstadt, Germany (GRID:grid.6546.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 0940 1669) 
Pages
1342
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2781429222
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.