Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the conditions for energy citizen initiatives to contribute to a more sustainable and democratic energy system

Apart from technological advances, energy transitions require social and institutional innovations to succeed in a sustainable and democratic manner (Wittmayer et al., 2020). One such innovation is ‘energy citizenship’ (ENCI), purporting the ideal of capable, energy-aware and actively participating citizens rather than a view of deficient residents or passive consumers (Devine-Wright, 2007, Wahlund & Palm, 2022). In this ideal, ENCI is presumed to contribute to a more democratic, just and sustainable energy system and governance. However, when translated into concrete empirical cases of ENCI, it becomes evident that progress towards this ideal depends on a plethora of contextual factors (Pel et al. 2021). While previous studies have begun investigating such factors, interactive effects between the level of local manifestations of ENCI and macro-conditions at national level remain poorly understood. Hence, this paper asks: What are necessary and sufficient conditions for cases of energy citizenship to achieve their own goals and to contribute to a more democratic and sustainable energy system? It approaches this question by applying fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) of cases of energy citizenship across Europe. ENCI can manifest itself in various forms, ranging from individual agency in the household, at work or in the public sphere to collective forms in the context of citizen initiatives, energy communities or social movements (Debourdeau et al. 2021). To improve comparability, only cases of one type of ENCI were included in the QCA, namely collective agency in the form of citizen-driven or hybrid initiatives (Debourdeau et al., 2021), which encompass varying degrees of government involvement. The case selection was informed by a previous mapping of 596 cases of ENCI across Europe, based on desktop research. Overall, we selected 20 cases for more in-depth study and usage in the QCA, which are located in Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Netherlands and Spain. Investigated achievements of these cases, representing three different QCA-outcomes, include contributions to a democratisation of the energy system, contributions to environmental sustainability and own-goal achievement. Consequentially, three QCAs will be implemented and their results compared. A set of conditions was derived from a literature review and cover both case-based conditions and macro-level/country-based conditions. Data on the case-based conditions were collected through interviews and document analysis on the above-mentioned 20 cases. Data on the macro-level/country-based conditions were gathered trough PESTEL analyses on each of the 9 countries in which cases are located. We expect support from government to be key for the goal achievement of ENCI cases. But, too strong a role of government might crowd-out direct citizenship control and thus negatively affect the democratisation outcome. Overall, we expect the role of different levels of government to depend on the autonomy of local and regional governments, with local and regional government being more important in more decentralised energy governance systems. Furthermore, we expect professionalization to play an ambiguous role in being enabling for the sustainability outcome while potentially detrimental to the democratisation outcome, but with the potential for intermediation by governmental or non-governmental actors to alleviate this tension.