While there are many opportunities to participate in the energy system, there is a clear lack of diverse and widespread citizen engagement. The current number of citizens involved in the energy transition is not known, but several studies have shown that women, migrants and low-income households are particularly under-represented as energy prosumers or in energy cooperatives and communities. There is therefore a large untapped potential for more citizen-led energy projects and energy justice.

In the Berlin Citizen Action Lab, we have worked closely with Berlin’s largest energy cooperative (BürgerEnergie Berlin) and several NGOs to develop specific training for facilitators to engage diverse stakeholders on sustainable energy issues.

The aim of the training was to equip facilitators with knowledge and tools to engage more citizens in the local energy system. While some organisations, such as energy cooperatives, may be aware of the lack of diversity in their membership, they have few tools to address this issue. As a first step, PIK initiated a cooperation between BürgerEnergie Berlin, LesLeFam, Nour Energy, Yesil Cember and GenderCC to integrate their expertise and build on their networks of the specific target groups. Two of these NGOs work closely together with women and gender queer people, while the other two target Turkish- and Arabic-speaking citizens to encourage a sustainable lifestyle. In a co-creative design process, we developed a training specifically for stakeholders in gatekeeper positions, e.g. in administration, family centres, schools and more.

The aim of the training was twofold:

• The first module provided information about the local energy transition in Berlin, the value of energy citizenship and a briefing on solar balcony modules. We focused on balcony solar panels because they are of particular interest to many Berliners, and the government provides funding for their installation. Although they don’t produce a large amount of electricity, balcony modules are a great way for citizens to gain hands-on experience of energy production and provide an incentive to use the electricity they produce efficiently. By training our facilitators, we wanted to give them the background knowledge to inform other citizens in their network about energy citizenship in Berlin.
• In a second module, Esra Doganay from Nour Energy shared insights on successful intercultural sustainability communication. She introduced a communication model that incorporates role models, previous experiences and knowledge on sustainable consumption to develop projects that are tailored to specific target groups. One of these tailored solutions might be the case of casual learning
• A concept that informs people about sustainable lifestyles in their daily meeting places. This may be a sticker on a washroom in a mosque about saving water. These small interventions help to highlight sustainable measures in our daily lives. Together with the participants, we discussed several projects for casual learning in energy citizenship, such as the Berlin Climate Tram. Constanze Körner from the queer NGO LesLeFam added that there needs to be more exchange between stakeholders from the social and energy sectors and more awareness of techniques to prevent discrimination.

Facilitator training for engaging diverse stakeholders on sustainable energy. Photos by Héctor Rodríguez-Chávez

Author: Julia Epp (PIK – Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)