THE SMARTEES PROJECT

As SMARTEES is nearing the end of its journey this year, there are many new EU-funded projects taking up the mantle to reseach social dynamics in energy transitions. One of such exciting projects is ENergy TRANsitions from Coal and carbon: Effects on Societie (ENTRANCES). Read more below for an introduction to the project.

Author: Professor Ricardo García Mira

In a globalised context, many European regions are exposed to the deep and sometimes painful transformation of their social, economic and cultural life. The clean energy transition, if not properly managed, may become an additional and decisive factor of "de-territorialisation" for those regions that are still heavily dependent on fossil-fuel-based industries or the extraction of fossil fuels themselves, i.e. coal and carbon-intensive regions.

A new 3-year project, ENergy TRANsitions from Coal and carbon: Effects on Societies (ENTRANCES), explores the challenges facing carbon-intensive regions in transition - hinging on the idea that the transition to clean energy should not be considered only as a technological change or an industrial shift but also a socio-economic-psychological process that affects the daily life of local communities.

The project follows the European strategy to reduce emissions by up to 40% from 1990 levels and pursues the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, as a frame of reference. It will analyze processes of de-territorialization and re-territorialization, aiming to develop a theoretically-based and empirically-grounded understanding of cross-cutting issues related to SSH aspects (socio-economic; socio-technical; socio-ecological; socio-cultural; socio-political and socio-psychological; and gender related) of “Clean Energy Transition” in 13 European coal mining and carbon-intensive regions, so as to formulate a set of recommendations in order to tackle these issues. The project intends to address challenges faced by these regions taking into account multi-dimensional perspectives involving different key players at territorial, regional, national, European, and global levels.

It will develop understanding from scientific evidence and knowledge based on interdisciplinary and inter-organizational dialogue, in which more than 3,000 people will participate, including scientists, organizations and stakeholders from all over Europe. The ENTRANCES consortium is formed by 14 high quality groups with excellent theoretical and methodological expertise, as well as an International Scientific Advisory Board for specific expert advice.

ENTRANCES is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The project finds its framework under the topic “Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) aspects of the Clean- Energy Transition” and call: LC-SC3-CC-1-2018-2019-2020.

For more information, please contact: 

Ricardo Garcia Mira 

Project Coordinator (ricardo.garcia.mira@udc.es)

UNIVERSITY OF A CORUNA  

Explore the project website here.

Photo: Nuno Marques, Unsplash