About
The practice of benefit sharing of renewable energy projects is a win-win situation. It can make the energy transition fairer for local communities, help developers speed up project deployment and accelerate the EU’s renewable rollout. Project developers consult with local citizens and municipalities, and come to an agreement on sharing some of the benefits of the project, whether that be through local investment, in-kind benefits, or local part-ownership. Involving the local community can reduce local opposition and speed up permitting, and make projects more competitive.
Despite its many advantages, the practice is still relatively limited. This brief calls for the EU to help widen and standardise benefit sharing by providing guidelines and setting out key principles that can be implemented across the EU. It calls on the European Commission to include benefit sharing in its Citizens Energy Package, look at making benefit sharing mandatory and include it in assessment criteria for permitting applications.
This policy brief is one in a series of briefs developed by a Knowledge Community of approximately 30 experts in energy and social policy from industry, the EU institutions, civil society and think tanks. The group met several times over half a year to discuss how to foster participation and inclusion in the energy transition. To write the briefs, the authors used a collaborative method where they presented each draft during Knowledge Community meetings, then led a dedicated discussion, drawing ideas from the expertise in the group to develop their work.
Author
- Etienne Charbit is Europe Policy Officer at French NGO réseau Cler
The other briefs in this series are:
We encourage you to explore the two policy briefs featured above or access the complete collection below:
- Facilitating energy sharing
- Electricity tariff design
- Renovation and renewable heating and cooling
- Local transition management
- Just transition governance
This policy brief is published by the Green European Foundation with the financial support of the European Parliament to the Green European Foundation. The European Parliament is not responsible for the content of this publication. The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Parliament or the Green European Foundation.
Published with the support of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union| Global Dialogue. The analysis and opinions expressed in this report reflect the views of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue.
