Enabling energy communities : a toolkit for just transition regions

This toolkit is to be used as a guide for local and regional policy makers and other relevant practitioners, especially in JTF territories (whether carbon-intensive or coal+ extracting), to understand how and if energy communities can amplify local social cohesion and potential value generation through establishing local renewable energy supply. It is meant to place the opportunities offered by energy communities within larger considerations around social/energy justice and aims to convey an understanding of when it makes sense to promote certain kinds of energy communities on the background of ongoing just transitions, and ideas about when it makes less sense to do so. Throughout the document, good practices of energy community models which are deemed to have high replicability potential in JTF regions are highlighted. Energy communities in JTF territories (with the notable exception of regions in Greece) remain very scarce, and for this reason this toolkit refers also to existing energy communities throughout Europe beyond JTF territories.