Why community capacity is core infrastructure for a just transition

Communities are increasingly expected to play a central role in delivering the clean energy transition – from community-owned renewables and local retrofit programmes to energy advice, flexibility and place-based decarbonisation planning. With the government’s Local Power Plan signalling a significant expansion of local and community energy, that role is only set to grow.

But while ambition has accelerated, capacity on the ground has not kept pace.

Years of austerity, followed by the energy and cost-of-living crises, have placed sustained pressure on communities and the organisations that support them. In many places – particularly lower-income and marginalised communities – time, resources and organisational capacity have been steadily eroded. As a result, not everyone is equally able to lead, shape or benefit from the opportunities that local and community energy can offer.

Without deliberate action to address these gaps, there is a real risk that the expansion of local and community energy reinforces existing inequalities rather than helping to tackle them.

Our latest paper, Building Blocks: Developing community capacity for a just transition, explores what community capacity really means in practice – and what is needed to enable it more consistently, and more fairly, across different places.

Capacity is often understood narrowly as technical expertise. In reality, it is much broader. It encompasses the people, organisations, skills, relationships, funding and institutional support that together enable a community to identify opportunities, navigate complexity and turn ambition into delivery.

Drawing on interviews with community organisations, intermediaries, policymakers and practitioners, the report identifies the key features that underpin successful, inclusive community-led energy action.  

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The research also highlights a set of principles that should guide capacity-building efforts if they are to work beyond already well-resourced communities. Support must be community-led, targeted at areas with the greatest need, and designed to operate over the long term with flexibility to reflect local context.

Taken together, the findings point to a clear conclusion: community capacity should be treated as core infrastructure for the energy transition, not as a secondary or optional extra.

If communities are expected to play a growing role in delivering clean energy and wider just transition outcomes, then building and sustaining that capacity must be planned, funded and supported with the same intent as the energy system itself.

The report sets out practical recommendations for governments, local authorities and intermediary organisations on how to do this – and how to ensure that the benefits of local and community energy are shared more widely.

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