Nowadays, energy transition is a lever for a more sustainable development. However, enterprises often lack strong incentives for engagement in this kind of projects and the most ambitious initiatives rely on inter-firm collaborations.
Energy transition is a contradictory topic: it is not very valued by the market but it is essential for the sustainability of our economies. Moreover, it is subject to both national and local rules, constraints and actors. This issue incorporates economic, social and environmental constraints, and stresses for social justice, as an integral part of a truly sustainable development.
The aim of this international workshop is to organize ateliers on the issue of energy transition and its multidimensional features. We therefore welcome panel proposals, including at least three papers, or alternatively proposals for individual papers, focusing particularly, though not exclusively, on the following topics:
- What are the levers and the obstacles of energy transition?
- The role of public policies in energy transition;
- The cooperation between non-profit actors engaged in transition: what are the contributions and the limits of these entities?
- Who are the new actors in this field? What is the role and the motivations of public, private and community actors?
- What is the role of territories? Territorial approach to development and energy transition;
- Commodification of public goods: strong arguments, limits, alternatives and critiques.
- International comparison;
- Methodological and epistemological issues.
In the context characterized by economic and social pressures, it is the role of associations and cooperatives that is the most intriguing. As the reality shows, the actors issued from social and solidarity economy are very active in these “new” domains such as clean energy, biological food, recycling, etc. Among the distinctive traits of these enterprises we can highlight the fact that they seek different forms of cooperation with public and private actors and are often rooted in specific territory.
