Landscape change through global warming and renewable energy transition is a central aspect of the ‘great transformation’. The aim of the project 'Active citizen experts in climate protection and energy transition' was to develop a transferable approach in the practice of a concrete participation project in a region in Germany, which qualifies and enables ('empowers') citizens to participate in climate protection as responsibly acting, in the development of renewable energies as factually enlightened, competent and in landscape development as locally connected actors in regional structural developments. By qualifying citizens and legitimizing them as a temporary and unbiased local expert group, local planning structures and cultures of renewable energies should receive a new impulse, an objectification of the debate and a gain in confidence in fact-based decision-making. In only 6 months (September 2020-March 2021), 9 citizens in the district of Ebersberg (Upper Bavaria) developed spatial concepts for wind energy and photovoltaic plants in the landscape in 8 joint workshops based on the district's milestone plan for the energy transition until 2030 and discussed them with a broad public as well as the district council and the mayors. Accompanying surveys showed that the concepts were perceived by the public, were assessed as well-founded and fair, and that the citizen experts were trusted. The involvement in a concrete planning process and the use of participatory elements were flanked by acceptance and landscape research. A main concern of the project, which was funded by Stiftung Mercator, was to strengthen democratic structures by creating new links between civil society, local politics and science.     «

Landscape change through global warming and renewable energy transition is a central aspect of the ‘great transformation’. The aim of the project 'Active citizen experts in climate protection and energy transition' was to develop a transferable approach in the practice of a concrete participation project in a region in Germany, which qualifies and enables ('empowers') citizens to participate in climate protection as responsibly acting, in the development of renewable energies as factually enligh...     »