Outcomes of the work carried out in the context of COMETS and EERAdata projects
Ordinary citizens are coming together through collective initiatives to play an active role in the low carbon transition. Citizen-led energy projects have grown over the past years to produce, distribute, and consume energy from renewable sources while being governed democratically, with benefits accruing locally.
A new database published in Nature Scientific Data offers systematic and cross-country insights into how collective action shapes the sustainable energy future. By performing a major compilation and reviewing copious data sources from websites to official registries, a Europe-wide inventory is now available with over 10,000 initiatives and 16,000 production units in 29 countries, focusing on the past 20 years. Data are available open access via the repository dataverse.no.
Moreover, a publication in Nature Scientific Reports provides insights into these numbers. Sourcing from the database, an animated documentary is available, shedding light into facts and figures around citizen-led energy initiatives.
