Governance Tools for Local Energy Autonomy

Central to the very idea of ‘climate change governance’ is the aim of mitigation through the removal of fossil fuel content in energy supplies, the source of 85 % of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (IPCC 2007). An understanding that all societal institutions are historically formed is also useful to this concept. Public administrative institutions, too, reflect their times and circumstances; to adapt them effectively, they must first be appreciated as social constructs, in turn serving to determine social reality. The past century of institutional evolution developed in a time of escalating and now near-total reliance on seemingly abundant fossil fuels and uranium, another non-renewable and destructive energy source. Energy issues were of little relevance at local level until the age of oil crises and climate change. Today, local and regional autonomy in renewable and broadly carbon-free energy supplies emerges as a central aim in the struggle to escape fossil fuel and nuclear dependency, with national and supra-regional renewable supply networks serving as support. This chapter examines major ways in which local communities can act through their government and administrative apparatus—effectively, efficiently and persuasively. We learn here from three successful attempts to gain substantial levels of local renewable energy autonomy.