How-to Guide
Community engagement & diversity
Engaging local communities is at the heart of what makes community energy projects so unique, creating benefits that go far beyond standard energy generation.
By actively involving local communities, you can build trust and ensure the project meets the needs of everyone it serves. A core part of this is prioritising diversity by encouraging participation from a wide range of local residents and stakeholders, making sure your project is inclusive and truly representative of your community.
Here are some resources to help you consider who and how to engage in your community effectively.
A Participatory Toolkit for Building More Inclusive Community Energy Co-operatives
A Participatory Toolkit for Building More Inclusive Community Energy Co-operatives – Led by Repowering London, this toolkit has been created in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Energy in Bristol and Dr Anna Rebmann from King’s College London. This toolkit is for co-operatives who are looking to increase the diversity of their membership, to include communities that are currently underrepresented in the cooperative space.
Energy Citizen Empowerment Kit – is a new tool to help overcome barriers to citizen participation in the energy system. A collaborative effort between researchers and policy experts has resulted in the creation of this new tool, which has been designed to boost the development of more inclusive renewable energy projects.
MyCommunity – lots of resources about engagement in your community
Community Wellbeing Index – gives an insight into what’s important to people in different areas of the UK for tailoring communications
CEE Justice Resources – resources for helping communicate effectively with young people, disabled, and black and brown communities on energy
