energy democracy
For many, Scandinavia is synonymous with social democracy, high union density, public ownership, and progressive governments inclined to climate action and sustainable policies. A recent study tour to Norway and Denmark, hosted by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s New York and Brussels offices, found that both countries still struggle with entrenched interests – local and international – holding back a genuine “just transition”.
The five-day study tour in October brought ten experts – legislators, researchers, and activists – ...
read more "Northern Lights? Nordic lessons for the just transition"
read more "Northern Lights? Nordic lessons for the just transition"
Groups fighting for energy democracy at all levels of society are leading resistance and remedies towards a better future.
Profit-driven energy models have escalated the climate crisis, failed to decarbonise our energy systems, and do not provide universal access to clean, affordable energy. We need to unite globally to transition to public energy systems rooted in justice, solidarity and democracy.
The global energy democracy movement recognises that the energy transition is an urgent opportunity to reclaim our energy systems from the market and put ...
read more "Energy Democracy Movement Declaration"
read more "Energy Democracy Movement Declaration"
While the EU talks about just transition and energy autonomy, we are paying the price for the political choice to put energy supply in the hands of privatised energy multinationals and their financiers. The amount of money these companies invest in the energy transition are a fraction of the exorbitant profits from high energy prices they pay to their shareholders. The EU put the climate transition central in its strategy and policy agenda with the European Green Deal and the Recovery Fund. However, these investment plans rely on using public money ...
read more "How Europe can rein in rampant fossil capital"
read more "How Europe can rein in rampant fossil capital"
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP FOR A FULL, JUST ENERGY TRANSITIONPrivate interests are currently grabbing an enormous energy resource: wind. The transition away from fossil fuels, therefore, runs the risk of enriching elites – chiefly land-owners, whose property rights extend upwards by Medieval principle. They are reaping royalties while frequently depriving their land-poor neighbors of all economic benefit from wind farms. In response, excluded rural communities are propelling anti-turbine movements powerful enough to slow installation across Europe.
So we need to address two problems...
read more "The Wind Commons"
read more "The Wind Commons"
Connecting struggles between North and SouthWho, What & Why
In March 2019, members of the Beyond Gas community met in Brussels to share, connect and strategize together. This comes after Beyond Gas conferences in 2016 and 2017, and an online conference in 2018 organised by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and other NGOs. The Beyond Gas network brings together activists from around the world who fight the global push for new gas projects. As a way to hold onto their power, and capitalise from the climate crisis, the fossil fuel industry is promoting gas as a climate ...
read more "Beyond Gas Conference 2019"
read more "Beyond Gas Conference 2019"
Report of a two-day working meeting of unions and close allies in the energy democracy movementOn June 14th and 15th, 2017, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) convened a two-day working meeting of unions and close allies in the energy democracy movement, under the title Reclaiming Power: The Struggle for Europe’s Energy Future.
Participants from 14 unions—as well as several social movement allies, universities, foundations and think tanks—came together at the Workers University in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss prospects of building "TUED ...
read more "TUED in Europe: laying the groundwork"
read more "TUED in Europe: laying the groundwork"
Report of a two-day working meeting of unions and close allies in the energy democracy movementOn June 14th and 15th, 2017, Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) convened a two-day working meeting of unions and close allies in the energy democracy movement, under the title Reclaiming Power: The Struggle for Europe’s Energy Future.
Participants from 14 unions—as well as several social movement allies, universities, foundations and think tanks—came together at the Workers University in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss prospects of building "TUED ...
read more "TUED in Europe: laying the groundwork"
read more "TUED in Europe: laying the groundwork"
Conference reportThe Conference Fossil fuel lock-in: why gas is a false solution, held in Brussels from September 26-28, 2016 was attended by more than 50 climate and energy activists from North Africa, the U.S., Argentina and across Europe. The conference was organized by Corporate Europe Observatory, Friends of the Earth Europe, CounterBalance, War on Want, Food & Water Europe, PowerShift e.V. Berlin and Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Brussels Office. Its goals were to improve networking among climate and energy activists, upgrade levels of ...
read more "Fossil fuel lock-in: why gas is a false solution"
read more "Fossil fuel lock-in: why gas is a false solution"
A common agenda for struggles aroung energyFrom energy access to climate justice and from anti-privatisation to workers’ rights, people across the world are taking back power over the energy sector, kicking-back against the rule of the market and reimagining how energy might be produced, distributed and used. For many movements involved in struggles around energy, the concept of energy democracy is proving increasingly useful as a means of bringing together disparate but clearly linked causes under a shared discourse and, possibly, something of a common agenda.How are people ...
read more "Energy Democracy"
read more "Energy Democracy"
The European Union and its member states claim that its international relations are guided by values and principles based on democracy and human rights. Countless projects are financed and implemented in this regard. Europe’s hunger for energy is no exception in this context, and this brochure, authored by Hamza Hamouchene, serves as an introduction to this topic. Hamouchene’s text outlines the blatant disregard for the will of the people in areas of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia that are subject to the production of energy for Europe. The ...
read more "The Struggle for Energy Democracy in the Maghreb"
read more "The Struggle for Energy Democracy in the Maghreb"