I remember the comment because it was so revealing. Not (so) offensive, just intellectually thin. And because 2025 made something very clear: this way of thinking is no longer just outdated. It is actively dangerous for the energy transition.

What was dismissed as “soft” now sits at the centre of performance, resilience, and credibility. What was framed as peripheral now determines whether projects scale, whether policies hold, whether investments last, and whether people stay on board when change becomes uncomfortable.

That is the lens through which I read 2025.

We spent much of 2025 debating whether citizens and businesses were losing appetite for the energy transition. The narrative suggested hesitation or fatigue with climate ambition. This reading never aligned with what I observed across the year — in policy rooms, municipal offices, innovation spaces, or in the conversations I host on the Energ’ Ethic podcast. People want a resilient, fair, and affordable transition. They want a system that treats them with intelligence and dignity. They want coherence.

In Paris, after a session on what it meant, concretely, to build a right to energy, someone told me something that stayed with me. They said that people support renewable energy — a IFOP surveys confirm this — yet they struggle to recognise the positive impact of the transition on their electricity bills. Their values and their daily signals do not align. A global study published in Nature Climate Change, conducted with UNDP, revealed a similar pattern: 80 to 89 percent of people worldwide want stronger climate action, yet most believe they are in the minority. This “supermajority illusion” creates a false sense of division and unnecessary silence.

The comment in Paris captured a broader truth. Europe wants the transition. People need institutions that translate that collective intention into daily clarity and confidence. Investors need long-term readability. This gap shaped much of 2025.

The transition advances through ambition, but it becomes real through consistency, fairness, and credibility. Trust — or misstrust — becomes the organising principle.

Trust supports resilience — financial, social, political, and emotional. Trust anchors the decisions we need to take.

Or make them sink.

This is why trust will shape the energy transition in 2026.

The Real Lessons of 2025

1. Progress Collides With Believability

2025 delivered strong technical momentum. Renewables accounted for more than 90 percent of new global power capacity added. Solar reached historical highs. Many countries refined their climate and energy strategies. These trends show a system able to scale technologies at a remarkable speed.

Yet people do not live in frameworks or deployment curves. They live in homes, cities, workplaces, and budgets.

They ask whether renovation rules come with support (not only financial). Whether tariffs remain understandable. Whether digitalisation respects autonomy. Whether institutions stay present when implementation becomes difficult.

Ambition moves fast. Believability moves more slowly.

That gap shapes trust. Trust shapes resilience. Resilience determines whether the transition holds under pressure.

This paradox sits at the centre of 2025: Europe holds a collective intention to act. The daily experience of the transition does not always reflect that intention.

Trust grows when ambition and experience align. Trust weakens when they drift apart.

2. Cooling Raised New Questions — Even If the Momentum Remains Thin

Cooling and summer energy poverty appeared only lightly in policy discussions this year. The topic has not yet reached the level of visibility that matches the scale of the challenge. Many institutions still see overheating as a marginal issue, and the conversation often remains secondary to winter energy poverty or building renovation. The momentum is fragile and uneven.

Yet something shifted. Through my research and advisory work, I saw people begin to recognise the implications of extreme heat in a new way. For several organisations and individuals I met, this was an eye-opening moment. They connected overheating with health, affordability, urban form, and inequality. They saw the links between climate adaptation and the emotional experience of resilience in the home. They began to consider cooling not as a lifestyle matter, but as a structural dimension of vulnerability.

This is still early. The landscape has not transformed. But the questions are now on the table — questions about how buildings, cities, and energy systems respond to a warming climate, and how resilience must guide the next phase of transition governance.

Cooling is a small but significant indicator of a broader inconsistency in 2025: people feel the risks of summer heat more directly than the systems designed to protect them. Appetite for adaptation is growing through lived experience. Institutional action has not yet caught up.

This mismatch reveals the next frontier for resilience, fairness, and trust.

3. Where Ambition Meets Reality

Europe holds an ambitious climate and energy framework. The expectations placed on local authorities, DSOs, cooperatives, housing providers, SMEs, and NGOs continue to grow. These actors coordinate obligations that require planning, sequencing, and clarity. Their work gives the transition its operational shape. They carry the responsibility for decisions that citizens experience most directly.

A structural inconsistency appears when ambition expands faster than the systems that must deliver it. Governance gaps reduce predictability. Fragmented responsibilities complicate long-term planning. Workloads intensify while support structures remain uneven. These pressures shape how communities interpret the transition and how institutions earn or lose trust.

Finance reinforces the same tension. When rules weaken or fluctuate, responsible companies must compete with actors that operate under lower standards. Communities then absorb environmental and social costs, while the climate carries the delay. Investors increasingly ask for certainty instead of promises. They seek verifiable origin, transparent sourcing, and robust ESG performance across solar, storage, and broader clean-tech supply chains. They want to know where a panel or a battery was produced, under which labour and environmental conditions, and whether procurement frameworks reflect the values Europe claims to uphold.

Implementation becomes a test of resilience.

Clear roles, stable rules, and credible oversight strengthen the capacity of organisations to plan, invest, and cooperate. Institutions build trust when systems support those who deliver change rather than stretching them beyond their limits.

Resilient transitions emerge from environments where ambition and action move in step, and where standards, governance, and financing reinforce each other instead of pulling in opposite directions. This alignment forms the decisive frontier for 2026.

When Assumptions Finally Broke Open

My clearest moment of insight this year came in a room full of entrepreneurs. They discussed barriers to deployment with impressive technical fluency. Their language changed when the conversation turned to affordability, agency, comprehension, and the emotional demands of adaptation. The atmosphere shifted when someone finally said: “Maybe we’re building tools no one can use.”

That sentence captured what the “Mars vs Venus” comment never understood. It revealed a cultural shift. Adoption, trust, and resilience decide outcomes. Systems fail when people cannot hold them. Projects stall when they ignore how life is actually lived. Transition tools need to make sense in people’s lives. They need to reinforce resilience rather than create new vulnerabilities.

What some dismiss as “soft” governs risk, uptake, and durability. Fairness stabilises systems. Agency accelerates adoption. Cooling resilience protects health. Governance clarity protects investment. Dialogue prevents breakdown.

This is not decoration. This is system design.

Human insight strengthens implementation. Fairness strengthens stability. Agency strengthens adoption. Cooling resilience strengthens public health and safety. Governance clarity strengthens financial performance. Dialogue strengthens long-term cooperation.

These are not decorative elements. They form the operating system of a resilient transition.

The Core Principle of the Transition

The energy transition succeeds when institutions, businesses, and communities rebuild the trust that allows people to move through change with dignity, agency, clarity, and resilience.

Everything else relies on this foundation.

How to Build Transitions People Believe In

What To Do If You Want Trust to Grow

1. Treat justice and climate adaptation as structural constraints

Cooling resilience, vulnerability analysis, and affordability belong at the beginning of every strategy. These elements guide feasibility and point to pressure zones. They reinforce long-term resilience.

2. Bring governance clarity forward

Clear roles, predictable responsibilities, and structured support create stability. People need to understand who carries which decisions and how the system responds under stress.

3. Create structured spaces for disagreement and repair

Dialogue strengthens legitimacy. People stay engaged when they feel heard. Structured conversations anticipate conflict and reduce long-term risks. These spaces reinforce institutional resilience.

If You Need a Steady Hand for 2026

2026 will reward organisations that align ambition with resilience, justice with strategy, and technical excellence with social intelligence. It will reward institutions that treat adaptation and fairness as core pillars. It will reward leaders who invest in trust.

If your organisation is preparing strategic decisions on vulnerability, cooling resilience, governance, stakeholder engagement, affordability, or public trust, I would be glad to work with you. My work brings together policy insight, research, qualitative intelligence, narrative clarity, and dialogue. It strengthens transitions that support people and endure stress.

This is the work the years ahead require.

The post Why Trust Will Shape the Energy Transition in 2026 appeared first on Next Energy Consumer.

Mirte Jepma

Mirte’s documentary The Sinking Fringe follows a social housing neighbourhood in Amsterdam as it resists top-down renewal in the name of “sustainability.” Her work is fiercely local but speaks to a much broader tension: the desire to improve our cities without uprooting their soul.

It also brought to mind something I noted while reading Quand Bordeaux se réinvente, a book about how my hometown is rethinking urban life through the lens of the commons:

Cities used to have walls. Now they are about bringing people together.

The book does not celebrate architecture or glossy masterplans. It talks about trust. About choices rooted in care and collective resilience. About preparing for tomorrow without displacing the people who live there today.

And that, really, is what Mirte’s work is about too.

Urban transitions are about people—not just infrastructure.

Back in 2022, I warned of a possible Renoviction Wave —when climate policies like building renovation are designed without social safeguards. We know this happens. Entire blocks of tenants are pushed out so that landlords can greenwash their portfolios.

Earlier this year, the Summer Energy Poverty report I prepared for the European Commission showed that as cities heat up, the most vulnerable groups—low-income households, the elderly, and women—are paying the price, often quite literally, with their health.

Now, Mirte brings these abstract risks to life. With a camera instead of a pen, she documents how people are removed from planning decisions, even as policies claim to be making life “better”, as part of the city is sinking due to climate change.

Her film is not anti-renovation. It is a demand to do it with people, not to them.

What can we learn?

This conversation with Mirte is never just about Amsterdam. It is about what happens when urban planning forgets the people it is meant to serve.

It is about recognising that social sustainability is not a soft add-on to green policy—it is the foundation.

It is about taking seriously the idea that residents are not obstacles but experts.

That resistance is not refusal, but care.

It is about embracing a feminist and inclusive perspective in energy and housing policy, one that values lived knowledge and accounts for intergenerational trauma and interdependency.

It is about bridging sectors. Housing. Cooling. Health. Participation. Climate. Because that is where transformation begins: from the ground up.

What does a truly inclusive city look like?

It looks like climate adaptation that does not drive people out.

It looks like public housing that is green, healthy, and community-owned.

It looks like heating and cooling systems for leaky and overheated homes—not just new tech, but shared, equitable design.

It looks like care as a principle—not just in social services, but in how we plan, listen, and build.

And it looks like trust.

Trust that people know what they need. Trust that local knowledge is as valuable as a consultant’s report. Trust that we can move fast and be fair.

These are the themes we returned to in earlier podcast episodes, with Monica Vidal, who reframed renovation as an act of dignity and inclusion, and who highlighted how campaigns can reframe renovation as an opportunity—not to evict—but to restore dignity and access, and Giulia Ulpiani, who showed us how urban challenges are both a climate and a justice issue. I also got a chance to share these thoughts yesterday at UNECE Group of Experts on Energy Efficiency.

So, where do we go from here?

In my recent work with the New European Bauhaus, I have seen that truly transformative projects are the ones that prioritise belonging, participatory design, and just resilience frameworks, which can help cities move from token inclusion to genuine transformation. The ones that ask:

–       Who gets to stay?

–       Who gets to shape the future of our streets, parks, and homes?

–       What does sustainability look like when people are not shut out, but brought in?

Whether it is Bordeaux, Amsterdam, Athens, or Milan, the challenge is the same:

How do we shape our cities without tearing communities apart?

Because cities are not just about transport, buildings, and zoning laws.

Cities are about stories. About neighbourhoods. About connection. The cities that embrace creativity, diversity, and community-led responses—like one-stop-shops, heat officers, cooling shelters, and adapted planning tools—to address both physical and social vulnerability.

If we listen closely—to researchers like Mirte, residents, and frontline workers—we can begin to answer those questions from the ground up.

But it takes courage, accountability, and more spaces—like this podcast—where such conversations are not just welcome but urgent.

Listen, or watch the latest episode of Energ’ Ethic Podcast : “From the Ground Up: Housing, Resistance, and the Inclusive City”

Revisit the report: “How to Avoid a Renoviction Wave”, FEANTSA 2022

Or explore: “Framing Summer Energy Poverty”, Insights and recommendations for a resilient future – Final report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2025

Related conversations: Mónica Vidal on the Build Better Lives campaign | Giulia Ulpiani on cities and climate equity

The post From the Ground Up: Cities, Climate and a Future Worth Living In appeared first on Next Energy Consumer.

Our focus? How local initiatives can drive the green transition and ensure no community is left behind.

Once again, the European Sustainable Energy Week 2024 shows that local governments’ power to steer the energy transition is unwavering.

But they face challenges, and need inspiration.

That’s exactly what our top-notch panelists focused on:

• Nives Della Valle, Ph.D. European Commission’s Joint Research Centre
• Max Joel New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
• Mireia Matencio , City of Besançon
• Pau Pañella Vilamú , Local Energy Agency of Osona
• Johannes Vollmer , European Renewable Energies Federation
• Petya Pishmisheva , Climate Alliance and Covenant of Mayors – Europe Office

Their experiences were truly inspiring.

Speaking about New York’s groundbreaking Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), Max Joel demonstrated that “If we can make it there, we can make it anywhere.”

This law sets the bar high, aiming for 100% zero-emission electricity by 2040 and directing 40% of climate funding to disadvantaged communities. A benchmark!

Key takeaways included:
• The SLIME program in France, which enables people to “rebuild their lives as they repair their homes”
• The Energy Community Support Program in Osona, which is a model for effective public administration support for energy communities.

“Local and regional actors will have a crucial role to play in managing the transition on the ground,” and our goal is to empower them with the knowledge, tools and narrative they need.

For further takes on the European Sustainable Energy Week, check the podcast episode “The Dog Who Caught the Bus”.

The post European Sustainable Energy Week 2024: Acting locally for a fair and inclusive European Green Deal appeared first on Next Energy Consumer.

In our beautifully diverse world, home to 7,139 languages, each one carries not just words, but entire universes of thought, nuance, and perspective. Yet, in our global dialogue on climate, energy, and sustainability, we find ourselves leaning heavily on English. This reality prompts us to reflect: What vital insights are we overlooking? Whose voices remain unheard because they cannot find their expression in English?

What if we confronted the overlooked challenge – language – as a critical element in our pursuit of a sustainable future?
Imagine a world where the diversity of thought and perspective is not only embraced but actively sought, recognizing that different languages bring unique mindsets, nuances, and perspectives.

These are exactly the questions we asked ourselves at the Beyond English: Navigating Sustainability’s Lingual Divide workshop organised with Perle Laouenan from NeedWorkshop.

 

The post Harnessing the Power of Our Voices for Sustainability appeared first on Next Energy Consumer.

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One of the primary takeaways from the panel was the importance of asking “why.” The ability of youth to question the status quo and challenge existing power structures is critical to driving change and creating a fairer and greener future. Small and big changes are equally essential and can significantly impact local, national, and international levels.

“2050 seems far away for some people. But for Millennials and Gen Z, it’s within our working lives that these challenges need to be solved“

The speakers emphasised the need to address energy poverty in the context of climate change, recognising that the two issues are deeply interconnected. They highlighted the importance of resilience in areas already experiencing the effects of climate change, such as heat-stressed areas (Northern India, for instance). They also emphasised the significance of gender equity and the health sector’s role in addressing energy poverty: the solutions must be multi-levelled, and clean energy access is a baseline for further action.

What was most inspiring about the panel was the young speakers’ audacity to dream big and set ambitious goals. They recognized the importance of complementary views, breaking silos, and building trust to create a shared vision for the future. They stressed the need to address root causes and take action-oriented approaches to fill the gaps in current systems.

As the moderator, I was heartened to see the energy and enthusiasm of these young people. Their lived experiences bring a unique perspective to the conversation and underscore the urgency of addressing energy poverty and climate change through the lens of the youth. They are the leaders of today – not only tomorrow.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues, particularly Manon Burbidge, who put in a lot of effort and dedication to make this event a success. With the International Energy Poverty Action Week, have created a space for young people – and not so young! – to share their ideas, visions, and hopes for a fairer and greener future. Let us continue to work together to turn these ambitions into action and create a better world for all.

The post Asking “why” is the ability of the youth – some thoughts on the International Energy Poverty Action Week appeared first on Next Energy Consumer.

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I had the honour of moderating the very crowded democratisation hub on 30 November, focusing on energy communities. The democratisation of the energy sector is critical. It can increase the capacity for action of individuals, especially those belonging to traditionally marginalised groups, such as women, indigenous communities and vulnerable communities. When democratised, the energy sector can fulfil its role as a human right that goes beyond the commodity relationship. And that’s exactly why we need energy communities. Energy communities fill the gaps, and enable a true take off of energy democracy.

Speakers Xavi Bou Torrent of ELECSUM, Cristina Mata Yandiola of Powerledger, Gregor Taljan of Energienetze Steiermark GmbH, Michael Pinto of Cleanwatts, Georg Hartner (Oesterreichs Energie), Paul De Wit (ALLIANDER), Fatuma Ali of Grid Singularity, Antoine Mathieu and Matthias Masschelin of ELIA, and Johannes Slacik (Energie Institut an der JKU Linz).

The energy and cost-of-living crisis we are experiencing now reminds us how vital energy is to our quality of life and that millions of people risk falling into energy poverty today and tomorrow if our energy systems do not become much more resilient to structural shocks and energy efficiency is implemented at a much faster pace.

Of course, democratising energy systems is a complex and fascinating subject. Alongside the three other Ds, decarbonisation, digitalisation and decentralisation, democratisation is today an essential ingredient for creating a true energy justice recipe, which is essential to ensure peace and prosperity while reconciling climate and social objectives. 

The speakers all had fascinating experiences to share, from all over Europe.

My key takeaways:

1⃣ renewable electricity can only take off if it is used close to the place it is produced (#flexibility), meaning we to strengthen local grids and networks, as well as energy communities business models 

2⃣ DSOs and TSOs are the key enablers, as they are engaged with constant dialogues with regulators and policymakers, as well as suppliers and energy service providers 

3⃣ yes the technology is mature and benefits are very clear BUT consumer engagement remains the elephant in the room…

… which made me reflect on the overall social impact of energy communities, which was barely addressed. 

So the big questions are: how do you make energy communities mainstream and not another instrument for a handful of healthy, wealthy, and witty individuals? How can the benefits of those very technical energy community-enabling tools trickle down to everyday people, and make sure the most vulnerable do not end up paying a ‘poverty premium’?

If we want an energy transition that works for the people, we should also make it WITH the people. We are not living in pristine lab environments but experiencing complex, often messy, lives. So the first step should be listening to the people.

I’m enthusiastic about energy communities because if they are built with empathy and are fair by design they are a way to build trust, mend distorted social bonds, and perhaps overcome isolation and vulnerability. But for this magic to happen we need to get where people are, engaging with as many people and organisations as possible, including municipal social services, charities, ombudsmen… and I’m not sure any technology can replace that. 

I am very proud and grateful for ENLIT Europe team for letting me express my views and demonstrate that alternative to technocentricity actually exist: you can check page 42 of the magazine to read my piece on energy poverty and ways to overcome it or read it here. You can also find here a piece on international collaboration to address energy poverty.

The post Technology Cannot Replace Human Relationships appeared first on Next Energy Consumer.

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I’ve Got The Power (Citizen Engagement)
High voltage (Governance & frameworks)
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? (EE or not EE, that’s the question)
Live wire (Financing Net Zero)
Make a Circuit With Me (Local Decision-Making)
Cosmic Energy (Governance & frameworks)
Electric Avenue (Questioning utilities)

Our panel was about policy, finance and governance, and yes, we covered almost everything. We had the privilege to receive insights on topics as different as energy poverty; energy law; auctions; multiple benefits of energy efficiency; financing schemes; the disappointing results of many policies; the mind-boggling expansion of gas networks; local cooperation; gender-sensitive lightning; or the different ways to make lasting policy impact and try to change the system to become more energy sufficient. 

Energy efficiency policies need the right combination of policy, finance and governance measures to generate optimal and lasting energy savings, contribute to decarbonisation processes and keep climate justice and a just transition at the forefront of our mitigation actions. In this panel, we explored how various frameworks are financed, designed, implemented and managed to make a difference and meet the long-term objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement. The panel focuses on topics related to policy foundations, such as European Union Directives, their interactions and the need for coordination between them. Out-of-the-box discussions related to how policies support more progressive concepts such as sufficiency, positive energy, negative carbon, positive energy districts, smart buildings, regenerative economies, multiple benefits, decentralisation and prosumers, etc., at national, European and international levels are welcome. But thinking out-of-the-box is where we must be, and the papers presented were chosen to do precisely that. If we are to address the messages from the IPCC reports, and if we are to implement the Fit-for-55 package and the European Green Deal, nothing can remain as business-as-usual.

All these presentations had something in common: the cosmic energy of their authors. Our panellists want to make a difference; they are agents of change. And that might be the key: in the end, it’s about the people. People matter. Human beings are the ones who can make or break our (energy) systems. They may get angry, team up, vote and decide on shared objectives and results that make us live within the boundaries of our planet – or not. 

We have the power to ensure that everyone is on board whether they are European, African, or Asian; identify as male or female or the gender of their choice; able or not, and do or do not have the capabilities to act. So we urgently need different voices.

But this power needs to be catalysed. To be stronger, we need to be organised. We need to be vocal and visible. We need excellent storylines and storytellers. We need agents of change!!

So that was just a good start!!

So why did we choose those names for our panels? Well, they are all song names, more or less related to energy. 

There’s one we didn’t put, but it would fit too: We Will Rock You!

Thank you everyone and see you in a couple of years, and thanks a million to Rod for following me and my crazy ideas

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