On October 10th 2024, Minna Kuivalainen from Smart Innovation Norway, a member of the Citizen and Consumer Engagement Working Group participated in the workshop “Fostering the uptake and social impact of the energy transition through citizen engagement“. Joining her were panelists Michael Brenner-Fliesser, BRIDGE Citizen and Consumer Engagement Working Group Chair, Scientist at Joanneum Research and Vaggelis Marinakis, President of DAEM - City of Athens and Assistant Professor, National Technical University of Athens.

The workshop organized by the BRIDGE Working Group on Citizen and Consumer Engagement (CCE), took place during the European Week of Regions and Cities 2024 in Brussels. The event highlighted the critical role of citizen engagement in ensuring that the benefits of the energy transition are widely understood and equitably distributed.

Despite growing recognition of the critical role citizen engagement plays in the energy transition, there remain significant barriers and challenges to the effective involvement of communities and individuals in decision-making processes and actions related to this transition.

In this context, the workshop’s primary objective was to provide policymakers and stakeholders with actionable insights and strategies to overcome barriers to citizen engagement at local level and foster a collaborative approach towards achieving a sustainable and just energy future, to enhance greater social impact and acceptance. During the workshop panelists shared their insights and experiences from local and R&I EU projects such as PEDvolution, demonstrating the potential of citizen engagement in the energy transition.

📌 Workshop details: here