Energy and climate transitions rarely fail because of technology.
They fail because social and governance risks are ignored until trust collapses.
Policies, programmes, and business models that look robust on paper often break down when they meet households, consumers, and communities. Costs are shifted, consent is assumed, and vulnerability is treated as an afterthought. The result is backlash, delay, and loss of legitimacy.
Next Energy Consumer exists to prevent this.
We advise institutions, regulators, cities, and companies on the social, consumer, and legitimacy risks embedded in energy and climate decisions, working upstream of implementation, where choices still matter.
What we focus on
Our work sits at the intersection of energy policy, governance, and social impact. We specialise in identifying blind spots that undermine delivery, including:
- energy poverty and vulnerability, including climate- and housing-related risks,
- unequal distribution of costs, risks, and responsibilities,
- gaps between formal consumer rights and lived experience,
- trust failures linked to market design, digitalisation, and infrastructure planning.
We intervene before social failure becomes political or reputational failure.
Leadership
Next Energy Consumer is led by Marine Cornelis, an energy policy expert with more than 15 years of experience working at European and international level on consumer protection, energy poverty, and just transition governance.
Marine advises decision-makers on high-stakes policy and programme design, combining deep EU policy expertise with sustained exposure to real-world energy hardship and frontline consumer issues. Her work is grounded, diagnostic, and focused on enforceability rather than intention.
She is regularly invited to contribute to and moderate senior policy debates where the objective is not consensus-building, but clarity.
How we work
Next Energy Consumer provides strategic advisory services, governance and legitimacy reviews, and selected high-level speaking and moderation roles.
We work with organisations facing concrete decisions, scaling challenges, or social and reputational risks related to energy and climate action. Engagements are selective and designed for contexts where getting it wrong has consequences.
If you are seeking validation or generic sustainability advice, we are not the right partner.
If you need clear-eyed scrutiny before decisions are locked in, we are.
