Statistical evidence for the contribution of citizen-led projects to the energy transition in Europe

Abstract

Statistical accounting of the impacts of citizen-led energy initiatives is absent. This paper quantifies the aggregate contributions of collective action in pursuit of the sustainable energy transition in Europe. We estimate the number of initiatives (10,540), projects (22,830), people involved (2,010,600), installed renewable capacities (7.2-9.9 GW), and investments made (6.2-11.3 billion EUR) for 30 European countries. Our aggregate estimates do not suggest that collective action will replace commercial enterprises and governmental action in the short or medium term without fundamental alterations to policy and market structures, however we find strong evidence for the historical, emerging, and actual importance of citizen-led collective action to the European energy transition.

The contribution of European citizen‐led energy initiatives to sustainable development goals

“…Figure 1 depicts the substantial growth in contributions from European citizen‐led energy initiatives to renewable capacity between 2000 and 2020, reporting additions of at least 5.9 GW (lower bound). Country‐level data are provided in Schwanitz et al (2023). When adding in capacities for which commissioning year information was lacking, and thus consequently excluded from the figure, the total rises to 8.7 GW (upper bound).…”

“…Second, our methodology also entails compiling data about European citizen‐led energy initiatives through utilization of our non‐proprietary open‐access database, as well as drawing upon our previous extensive analyses and results publications (see Schwanitz et al, 2022; Schwanitz et al, 2023; Wierling et al, 2023; Wierling, Schwanitz, et al, 2022; Wierling, Zeiss, Hubert, et al, 2021; Wierling, Zeiss, Lupi, et al, 2021).…”

Statistical evidence for the contribution of citizen-led initiatives and projects to the energy transition in Europe

“…Data quality has been ensured by rigorous validation procedures, including the four-eyes principle, automated compliance checks, verification of data ranges, and, where possible, cross-checking of data with experts and against other publications and aggregated information sources. All data are published openaccess with extensive documentation [41][42][43] . Details on aggregation methods and data collection for each country are described in the notes to the Supplementary Material (Supplementary Note 1, Supplementary Data 2 & 3).…”

Biodiversity: A Bibliometric Analysis of Accounting, Economics, and Finance Journals

“…To advance the literature on ecological economics and to assess the valuation of non-pecuniary values, the field of biodiversity may provide an ideal framework. Literature on citizen-led initiatives active in the energy transition is blossoming in recent years (see, e.g., Schwanitz et al, 2023; Wierling et al, 2023). These players can become significant operators and represent an important alternative to the incumbent market-based corporate organizations.…”