Democratising the energy transition in Europe: a comparative analysis

Online lecture by Pierre Bocquillon, Associate Professor of European Union Politics and Policy at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and fellow for one-month in writing residency at Paris IAS in April 2026, as part of the "Paris IAS Ideas" series.

The "Paris IAS Ideas" online lecture series offers short and stimulating presentations by researchers from the Paris Institute for Advanced Studies, marking the start of their month-long writing residency.

Session exclusively online and in English.
Free upon registration.
Registration is required via the form at the bottom of the page to receive the login link.

Presentation

A rapid energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy is widely recognised as essential to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with the international commitments made at the 2015 Paris Climate Conference. This transition to clean energy is already partially underway thanks to technological advances, favourable support policies and falling renewable energy costs.

The energy transition to decentralised, low-carbon renewable energy is a fundamentally political process that challenges existing power relations and modes of energy governance. It presents both challenges and opportunities for greater individual and collective citizen involvement in energy governance. This is not only desirable from a democratic point of view, given the scale of the political choices required in the transition, but also necessary to make the transition more representative, fairer and, ultimately, more legitimate and sustainable. The project aims to systematically assess how these challenges and opportunities have been addressed in different political contexts, using a comparative approach.