Empowering All: Battling exclusion in energy transitions

Report, 2025

The User-Centred Energy Systems mission is to provide policy-relevant evidence on factors influencing energy use, including technology acceptance, and their impact on society. In this report we highlight how current energy systems exclude users and explore the role of gender and social perspectives for equitable, effective energy transitions. Examining the systems and power structures affecting energy transitions, we identify interlinked key drivers of exclusion and provide recommendations for policy makers and technology developers on how to counter them, supported by examples of good practice from different geographical contexts.
Energy transitions are leading to a decentralization of energy system resources. However, power structures remain highly centralized and supply-side focused, often leading to local resistance to change and the exclusion of end user groups. Despite these challenges, grassroots initiatives and innovative partnerships all over the world offer alternative visions for equitable energy transitions. However, such efforts, in particular from low-income countries, often remain invisible and under-researched.
The recommendations and examples are based on the common work in the Empowering All task phase 1, including new research from task researchers, good practice examples gathered during our research, and the aggregated knowledge of current state of the art research within the energy field.