Welcome to our seventh newsletter! In this current issue, we proudly present ENCLUDE's typology of Energy Citizenship(s) and provide updates on the latest General Annual meeting in North Macedonia and other events that ENCLUDErs participated in.

Enjoy the read!

In October 2023, ENCLUDE released a report on a comprehensive typology of citizenship in the energy domain. It presents a scoping literature review on energy citizenship and related ideas and the results of a comprehensive engagement of citizens, practitioners and experts through a mixed methods approach involving surveying, in-depth interviewing, and asynchronous email interviews.

A typology of energy citizenship is presented comprising four categories of ‘access to energy’, ‘energy consumption’, ‘energy production’, and ‘politics and governance’. Fifteen expressions of energy citizenship were described, three under the first category, and four in each of the others.

Along with its companion publication (D2.1), the report will contribute to the ongoing discourse (including with peer projects) on the role of citizenship in the energy transition and the meaning and value of energy citizenship.

The report is publicly available and can be downloaded from the links below, along with its companion publication (D2.1).

D2.2 - Typology of Energy Citizenship(s)

D2.1 - Report on Intersectional Analysis of Emerging Examples of Energy Citizenship

How did different types of energy citizenship initiatives emerge in Europe? Our survey with 280 participants of such initiatives around Europe provided many insights on demographic, energy consumption, and energy behavior aspects that shed light on how these initiatives were created, what is their current progress, and potential barriers and issues they have encountered. This booklet summarizes some of the most important findings in a simple and generally understandable form. This aims at helping representatives of initiatives to better understand the characteristics and needs of their members. The booklet was written by Malgorzata (Gosia) Matowska, Michael Brenner-Fliesser, and Stephan Schwarzinger and designed by Agata Smok.

Link to booklet

The 5th General Assembly of ENCLUDE took place on the 14 and 15 November 2023, in Metropol Lake Resort, Ohrid, North Macedonia, kindly hosted by our partners Eko-svest. We discussed progress so far and next steps across all project components.

What is more, we had the opportunity to visit one of the communities in North Macedonia making the transition from coal-based economy–Belitsa. The culture, natural setting, the wonderful spirit in the people seeding and making incredible change there reminded us that the energy transition has a voice, has a face and about more than energy alone.

Last but not least, our partners visited the faculty of mechanical engineering of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (UKIM) Универзитет „Свети Кирил и Методиј“ - Скопје (УКИМ) to develop long term teaching and research collaboration.

Alexandre Caldas Curley presented his MSc thesis on policy platforms as support tools for climate change-related policymaking in the Integrated Assessment Modelling Consortium (IAMC) 2023 meeting in Venice. In this research, he investigated:

- What are the design requirements of climate change mitigation and adaptation (CCMA) policy platforms according to the literature?

- How do existing examples of CCMA policy platforms in the H2020 programme compare against these requirements?

- How do policymakers perceive the usefulness of CCMA policy platforms and what characteristics do they look for in such platforms to support them in their work?

ENCLUDE was part of the European Commission’s pavilion in the Smart City Expo World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, the biggest exhibition for smart and sustainable cities in the world. ENCLUDE’s partner George Xexakis presented there the first version of the Interactive Policy Platform that is currently developed to showcase ENCLUDE’s results. A demo of the Platform was shown to policymakers and researchers visiting the expo and their feedback will be used to improve its design in the next coming months. The Platform will be further enhanced with results from other relevant Horizon projects, aiming to become an authorative source of information on the rights, role, and impact of citizens in the energy transition in Europe.

Our partner Vanja Djinlev attended the "Energy, Environment, and Societies in Crises" conference at the University of Trento, on the 7th of September 2023. His presentation was concentrated on the "Multilevel impact of collective energy initiatives." The conference called for critical sociological reflections and empirical social investigations of energy transitions and changing energy systems in contexts of climate and energy emergencies, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution crises.

ENCLUDE along with three sibling Horizon 2020 projects (EC2, EnergyProspects, Dialogues) is organizing a joint policy event on 5th March 2024, 09:30 – 17:00, in Brussels, Belgium. The event will provide insights from the four projects on how energy citizenship can contribute to an inclusive, democratic, and sustainable Green Deal. Find more details in the flyer below and register in the link.

Register here

ENCLUDE’s partners Vanja Djinlev, Malgorzata (Gosia) Matowska, and Michael Brenner-Fliesser will organize a session at the STS Conference 2024 hosted by Graz University of Technology and focusing on Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies. The session will seek to delve deep into the nuanced relationship between the concepts of energy citizens and positive energy districts (PEDs). Focusing on the intersection of these two concepts, this session will address critical questions such as how to empower citizens, what decision-making models are conducive to the successful implementation of PEDs, and many more. More details can be found here (Session C.7).

The call for abstracts closes on 22 January 2024 and the conference will take place on 6-8 May 2024 in Graz (hybrid event). We are looking forward to receiving your abstracts!

Submit an abstract here!

You may read our previous newsletters here.

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