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Throughout the world, community initiatives are becoming a common form of engagement in renewable energy while being recognised for their ability to deliver social, environmental and economic benefits. In particular, community renewable energy – understood as renewable energy deployment in which communities initiate, develop and own an asset – has emerged as a sub-field of the energy sector. The main research questions are: why and how do community renewable energy fields emerge and what institutional drivers and challenges contribute and constrain their development? Applying the framework of strategic action fields, which is based on elements of institutional, organisational and social movement theory, the thesis explores the development of community renewable energy fields based on case studies of Denmark, Germany and Australia. It investigates relationships between related actors considering both bottom-up (mobilisation) and top-down (decisive role of state and its institutions) dynamics and compares the developments of the three countries to identify development principles and to offer policy recommendations. In addition, special focus is placed on the role of local government as an institution that supports and could foster the establishment of community renewable energy initiatives. The research design uses a combination of secondary and primary data in form of literature sources, statistics and empirical data collected via qualitative and quantitative methods (incl. surveys and semi-structured interviews). The thesis results indicate that some form of exogenous shock is valuable for initiating societal change that erodes the material and ideological-political advantage of the incumbent energy industry. An episode of contention is followed by mobilisation and collective action in the community renewable energy field's emergence. The ability of social skilled actors to frame issues, create shared identities, establish coalitions and institutionalise support structures is a crucial element in the process of ...

This open access book presents detailed pathways to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050, globally and across ten geographical regions. Based on state-of-the-art scenario modelling, it provides the vital missing link between renewable energy targets and the measures needed to achieve them. Bringing together the latest research in climate science, renewable energy technology, employment and resource impacts, the book breaks new ground by covering all the elements essential to achieving the ambitious climate mitigation targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. For example, sectoral implementation pathways, with special emphasis on differences between developed and developing countries and regional conditions, provide tools to implement the scenarios globally and domestically. Non-energy greenhouse gas mitigation scenarios define a sustainable pathway for land-use change and the agricultural sector. Furthermore, results of the impact of the scenarios on employment and mineral and resource requirements provide vital insight on economic and resource management implications. The book clearly demonstrates that the goals of the Paris Agreement are achievable and feasible with current technology and are beneficial in economic and employment terms. It is essential reading for anyone with responsibility for implementing renewable energy or climate targets internationally or domestically, including climate policy negotiators, policy-makers at all levels of government, businesses with renewable energy commitments, researchers and the renewable energy industry.