Towards a new energy future: energy cooperatives and the transition to a green economy

Energy cooperatives can be sources of jobs, welfare, but also examples of democratic economic practices. Decision-making in a democratic and participatory manner leads to the strengthening of citizens'and communities' control over economic activity. Cooperatives can counteract non-transparent and oligopolistic market trends, which often translate into higher prices and poorer services, coming with offers tailored to local needs, reducing information asymmetries and thus providing a greater degree of protection to cooperative members who are consumers and / or “producers” of green energy, through the cooperative's projects.
How can we replace large, fossil fuel-based energy companies and centralized decisions with green energy cooperatives and democratic decision-making mechanisms? What are the prospects for energy cooperatives in Romania? What can we, as citizens, do and what kind of public policy interventions are needed? What can we learn from the experience of other European countries, where energy cooperatives play an important role in decarbonising and democratizing the economy?

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Romania invites you to discuss all these questions in the debate "Towards a new energy future: energy cooperatives and the transition to a green economy".

The debate will take place in Romanian and English, with simultaneous translation.

Our guests are:

• Gijsbert Huijink - co-founder of Som Energia and owner of numerous photovoltaic projects in Spain and Cambodia.
• Dinu Drog - lawyer and co-founder of Cooperativa de Energie, the first 100% green energy cooperative in Romania.

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