Shifting paradigms in practice? Investigating the compatibility of Germany's energy cooperatives with sustainable degrowth
(2023) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM01 20231The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
- Abstract
- The concept of sustainable degrowth presents itself as a normative response to some of the most pressing socio-ecological challenges of our time. The energy sector plays a prominent role in the degrowth debate, however, there is limited conceptual and empirical understanding of how energy production and consumption might look like from a degrowth perspective and which actors might be compatible with the degrowth ideals. Renewable energy cooperatives are widely recognised as an important actor in facilitating a decentralised and participatory transition to renewable energy. Although research has highlighted the commonalities between community-based forms of energy production and degrowth, their potential for putting degrowth into practice... (More)
- The concept of sustainable degrowth presents itself as a normative response to some of the most pressing socio-ecological challenges of our time. The energy sector plays a prominent role in the degrowth debate, however, there is limited conceptual and empirical understanding of how energy production and consumption might look like from a degrowth perspective and which actors might be compatible with the degrowth ideals. Renewable energy cooperatives are widely recognised as an important actor in facilitating a decentralised and participatory transition to renewable energy. Although research has highlighted the commonalities between community-based forms of energy production and degrowth, their potential for putting degrowth into practice is subject to an ongoing debate. This study aims to better comprehend the relationship between renewable energy cooperatives and degrowth by developing a conceptual degrowth framework for community energy and translating the broad degrowth vision into operationalisable elements for this particular actor. By conducting twelve qualitative, semi-structured interviews and a complementary document analysis, this study then applies the framework and explores to what extent renewable energy cooperatives in Germany are already compatible with the degrowth vision. This study also sheds light on drivers and barriers that are influencing the ability of renewable energy cooperatives to pursue degrowth. The results show that the renewable energy cooperatives could currently be considered as being partially degrowth compatible. While this actor did not explicitly strive towards degrowth, their compatibility with the degrowth vision was observable in terms of being locally embedded, strongly purpose and not profit-driven, open to collaboration and striving for independence and community wellbeing. However, other key elements of degrowth, such as the promotion of demand-side energy sufficiency or the deviation from organisational growth, were only evident in practice to a limited extent. Several practical and structural factors, as well as tensions between degrowth elements, were found to influence the ability of community energy cooperatives to put degrowth into practice. Researchers, policymakers, and businesses who are researching degrowth at the micro level and are interested in implementing degrowth policies or strategies in practice can learn from the framework, its practical application, and the potential challenges and drivers for implementing degrowth. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9139221
- author
- Bartling, Leon LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- IMEM01 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- degrowth, community energy, cooperatives, renewable energy transition, degrowth framework for community energy
- publication/series
- IIIEE Master Thesis
- report number
- 2023:14
- ISSN
- 1401-9191
- language
- English
- id
- 9139221
- date added to LUP
- 2023-09-29 09:26:38
- date last changed
- 2023-09-29 09:26:38
@misc{9139221,
abstract = {{The concept of sustainable degrowth presents itself as a normative response to some of the most pressing socio-ecological challenges of our time. The energy sector plays a prominent role in the degrowth debate, however, there is limited conceptual and empirical understanding of how energy production and consumption might look like from a degrowth perspective and which actors might be compatible with the degrowth ideals. Renewable energy cooperatives are widely recognised as an important actor in facilitating a decentralised and participatory transition to renewable energy. Although research has highlighted the commonalities between community-based forms of energy production and degrowth, their potential for putting degrowth into practice is subject to an ongoing debate. This study aims to better comprehend the relationship between renewable energy cooperatives and degrowth by developing a conceptual degrowth framework for community energy and translating the broad degrowth vision into operationalisable elements for this particular actor. By conducting twelve qualitative, semi-structured interviews and a complementary document analysis, this study then applies the framework and explores to what extent renewable energy cooperatives in Germany are already compatible with the degrowth vision. This study also sheds light on drivers and barriers that are influencing the ability of renewable energy cooperatives to pursue degrowth. The results show that the renewable energy cooperatives could currently be considered as being partially degrowth compatible. While this actor did not explicitly strive towards degrowth, their compatibility with the degrowth vision was observable in terms of being locally embedded, strongly purpose and not profit-driven, open to collaboration and striving for independence and community wellbeing. However, other key elements of degrowth, such as the promotion of demand-side energy sufficiency or the deviation from organisational growth, were only evident in practice to a limited extent. Several practical and structural factors, as well as tensions between degrowth elements, were found to influence the ability of community energy cooperatives to put degrowth into practice. Researchers, policymakers, and businesses who are researching degrowth at the micro level and are interested in implementing degrowth policies or strategies in practice can learn from the framework, its practical application, and the potential challenges and drivers for implementing degrowth.}},
author = {{Bartling, Leon}},
issn = {{1401-9191}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
title = {{Shifting paradigms in practice? Investigating the compatibility of Germany's energy cooperatives with sustainable degrowth}},
year = {{2023}},
}