Citizen participation: key to building public support for the uptake of renewable energy - 13PL21682

While there is consensus that wider use of renewable energy is needed, projects often face local opposition, usually related to local environmental impacts, lack of local decision-making power and a misunderstanding of what renewable energy is and what it can bring. Experiences show that citizen participation is valuable for local acceptance and environmental impacts mitigation.

This participatory lab focuses on how to promote citizen participation as a way to manage public opposition to new renewable energy projects. It will begin from the best practices identified, giving you a remarkable opportunity to share your opinion and discuss with other relevant stakeholders. An interactive system will allow for simultaneous exchange among participants.

Best practices will include learnings collected within the APPROVE and INTENSIFY Interreg Europe projects — which both look at non-technological barriers to the uptake of renewable energy — and insights from citizen participation drawing on REN21’s Renewable Energy in Cities 2021 Global Status Report. The objective of the session is to foster the promotion of renewable energy at municipal and regional level in the next ERDF Operational programs.