Authors: Irene Chiocchetti (IEEP), Chris Foulds (ARU), Ami Crowther (ARU)

This policy brief, produced with Anglia Ruskin University, is the first of a series as part of the activities of the Shared Green Societies forum. It sheds light on how energy governance can become more inclusive and effective by overcoming the limitations of traditional top-down approaches, which often fail to enable meaningful citizen participation in emerging energy systems.

There is growing recognition that the achievement of low-carbon energy transitions requires everyone to play their part. Indeed, the breadth of topics and sectors covered in European Union energy policies demonstrates the need for a range of societal actors to be involved in actions, including, for example, citizens, businesses, industries, and non-profit organisations. Yet, there are challenges affecting current participation approaches, which in turn hinder the effective involvement of these different societal actors. In particular, this Policy Brief outlines three specific challenges which act as barriers to achieving (local) just energy transitions: the presence of one-size-fits-all participation approaches; insufficient support for alternative local governance mechanisms; and a lack of trust that policymaking considers insights gained through participation.

Drawing upon experiences of, and best practices from, the EU Horizon 2020 project, SHARED GREEN DEAL, this Policy brief sets out four recommendations for how participation can be enhanced to better support sustainable energy transitions:

• Recognise the range of actors and initiatives that support sustainable societal change, and broaden the concept of governance beyond top-down policymaking.
• Embed flexibility within policy approaches to enable informed, adaptable, and contextualised implementation.
• Ensure strong, continuous, and structured support for local initiatives that foster opportunities for direct interaction with sustainable interventions.
• Support policy initiatives that fund long-lasting local participatory processes.

The policy brief was completed after a policy roundtable entitled ‘Local participation in European energy transition: An MEP Roundtable’ that IEEP and ARU held at the European Parliament on 24 June 2026. The roundtable was hosted by MEP Bruno Tobback (S&D, Belgium), and was attended by MEPs Brigitte Van den Berg (Renew Europe, Netherlands) and Benedetta Scuderi (Greens/EFA, Italy). During the event, the first draft of this policy brief was presented, and an open discussion took place with MEPs, assistants, policy advisors, and other experts from think tanks, local authorities, and Civil Society Organisations, who validated the content of this work and recognised the recommendations as necessary actions to improve local participation in the energy transition.