The Future of the EU’s Energy Project: Democratic dimension

About

This policy brief considers the democratic dimension of the EU’s energy project. It looks at the links between political systems, energy sources and technological systems, as well as the democratic challenges and opportunities created by the need to drastically change our energy production and consumption patterns.

It is the last of four briefs exploring the various dimensions of the EU’s energy project, all based on expert input and discussions among the GEF Knowledge Communities. The other three deal with energy security, the social dimension, and climate and sustainability. 

Energy democracy can be seen as the glue binding all these other dimensions together, since it is relevant across the full spectrum of energy issues: continuity of supply, access, affordability and sustainability. It is therefore critical to the success of the energy project as a whole. To move its agenda forward, we propose a framework based on various governance levels, at which the democratic dimension of energy can be implemented and strengthened.

Contributors

Benjamin Denis, Core expert of this Knowledge Community, Senior Policy Advisor and Head of Industrial Policy Coordination at IndustriAll Europe.

Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera, Core expert of this Knowledge Community, Founder and Head of Forum Energii.

Antoine Oger, Core expert of this Knowledge Community and Research Director, Global Challenges and SDGs at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP).

Jesse Scott, Core expert of this Knowledge Community, Adjunct at Hertie School Berlin and Visiting Fellow at DIW Berlin.

Taube Van Melkebeke, Green European Foundation (GEF)’s Head of Policy and Knowledge Communities lead. For further information, contact her at taube.vanmelkebeke@gef.eu.

This policy brief has been realised 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.