Co-Designing Just Energy Transitions

#EUKICON26 || Day 1 || 02:00 PM

The workshop aimed to reframe vulnerability in the energy transition, exploring how placing vulnerable groups at the centre of action enables social innovation.

Summary

Building on insights from our EUKI project “Empowering Roma Communities in the EU Green Deal” and TU’s project “Citizen Energy in Central and Eastern European Countries – CEE”, we explored a central question in the workshop through three case studies from the context of marginalised Roma communities in Slovakia and Italy (Lunik IX., Ostrovany, Tor Bella Monaca): How can participatory social innovations ensure more inclusive EU Green Deal, especially for the most vulnerable lacking basic energy access, through citizen energy initiatives?

The diverse pool of participants was put in the shoes of local actors (NGOs, municipalities, and communities) and collectively used their experience and expertise to critically examine different participatory mechanisms in the context of the three case studies – they analysed local needs, proposed concrete solutions, and identified barriers to their successful implementation. The workshop thus provided innovative ideas for a follow up initiative on citizen energy in the context of vulnerable groups as well as valuable feedback for the participatory actions currently implemented in Slovakia and Hungary as a part of the EUKI project.

Facilitator

• Jakub Csabay, Comenius University