Blog Day: March 27, 2025

We often refer to the energy transition in terms of the now-familiar “4Ds”: decarbonisation, decentralisation, digitalisation, and democratisation. But while the first three benefit from well-developed frameworks, financial pipelines, and political urgency, the fourth, democratisation, still feels like a promise more than a process. It’s something everyone agrees with in principle, but few take seriously in practice. And yet, that fourth “D” is precisely what determines whether the transition will be experienced as an opportunity, or just another top-down transformation that bypasses the people it’s meant to serve.