Public engagement with the energy transition

https://doi.org/10.58248/PN764 

The UK’s energy transition needs the public to help shape policy.  Without public engagement, the shift to clean energy may not progress quickly enough to meet the UK Government’s Net Zero goal. The Seventh Carbon Budget advice underscores this point, as it estimates a third of emissions reductions by 2040 come directly from low-carbon household choices.

Broadly, public engagement can be interpreted as:

• Top-down, one-way forms of engagement. Typically led by institutions, these approaches rely on one-way communication strategies that aim to increase understanding and foster acceptance towards net zero technologies.
• ‘Invited’, two-way forms of engagement. These participatory approaches involve institutions inviting people to give their views and take action; for example citizen’s assemblies.^1,2 Beyond decision-making, there are also behavioural engagement approaches that focus on encouraging low-carbon lifestyles. These can be top-down, like incentives to change consumer behaviour, or bottom-up, such as voluntary community action.
• Bottom-up, ‘uninvited’ forms of engagement. This form of engagement involves citizens creating their own spaces for engagement. Examples include community energy, grassroot action, and everyday forms of engagement.

Some stakeholders want a coordinated, systematic, and long-term public engagement strategy that combines the diverse forms of engagement into decision-making and action.

Current state and barriers

Polls suggest widespread public support for net zero. Around 80% of the UK public supports the use of renewable energy. The UK Energy Research Centre suggests people are already engaging with the energy transition, through community energy projects, and household choices such as adopting heat pumps.

However, research shows that large-scale societal engagement can be limited by several barriers:

• Socioeconomic barriers include financial constraints, time pressures, and limited access to resources.
• Information barriers include lack of locally relevant advice, and misconceptions about technologies such as heat pumps.
• Political barriers include inconsistent government messaging and lack of trust.

Supporting and enabling effective engagement

Research has identified a set of principles that could support effective public engagement:

• Communication: Researchers suggest that clear, accessible, and consistent communication can improve understanding of the energy transition and willingness to engage with it. This includes adopting user-friendly formats and using trusted messengers.
• Co-benefits: Studies have found that referring to co-benefits, such as lower bills, cleaner air and better health, and new jobs, can make the transition more relevant to people’s lives and may connect climate action to issues they already care about, including the cost of living.
• People-centred: Academics suggest that people-centred, two-way dialogue can create space for citizens to share local knowledge, raise concerns and discuss trade-offs. It may also help to reveal structural barriers to participation, such as affordability.
• Place-based: Research emphasises that communities in different parts of the UK may experience the transition differently, shaping how they interact with and understand it. Studies in the Scottish Islands, for example, demonstrate the influence of geography and grid constraints on people’s ability to participate.
• Leadership: An Environment and Climate Change Committee report states that engagement may also benefit from consistent leadership and leading by example, as it can set a clear direction.
• Timing: Academic reports state that engaging people at the right time, early, and continuously throughout the planning, delivery and evaluating process, could help strengthen engagement.
• Monitoring: Research stresses that monitoring and evaluation can help practitioners understand what worked well, what challenges emerged, and how approaches might be adapted in changing socio-technological contexts.

Acknowledgements

This briefing was produced in consultation with experts and stakeholders, who are listed at the end of the briefing. The briefing was co-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. POST would like to thank everyone who contributed their expertise to this briefing.