Episode 27: Public consultations in National Energy and Climate Plans: Improving legitimacy?

In our 3rd season of How Green Is Your Deal?, we explore not only which decisions are made but also who makes them. 

The EU requires member states to engage the wider public in the drafting of their National Energy and Climate Plans. However, the quality of participation varies significantly between EU countries.

In this episode, Lea Schewe discusses why public participation in these plans is so important, the challenges participation faces, and what could explain variation in quality. 

This season is produced in collaboration with RETOOL, a HORIZON EUROPE project aiming to advance our understanding of how to address the twin challenges of responding to the climate imperative while strengthening and reinvigorating democratic governance.

About the guest

Lea Schewe is a PhD Researcher in the Centre for Environment, Economy and Energy (C3E) of the Brussels School of Governance. She works as part of the research programme on Enhancing Democratic Governance in Europe (EDGE), focusing specifically on the implementation of public participation mechanisms in climate and sustainability governance. She worked previously as an Associate at the European Climate Foundation (ECF) and as a research associate at the University of Guadeloupe. Lea graduated from Sciences Po Lille with a master’s degree in Political Ecology and currently has a master’s degree in European studies at the Brussels School of Governance, VUB.

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About the podcast series

The von der Leyen I Commission set out to put the EU on a pathway toward a sustainable, low-carbon future with the launch of the European Green Deal. However, the Green Deal quickly found itself in rough waters as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine risked derailing it all. 

To help you understand what the EU aimed at doing in the European Green Deal, how it is impacted by changing times, and what we can expect from the second von der Leyen Commission, GreenDeal-NET created a How Green Deal? In 20- to 30-minute episodes, host and researcher Jana Gheuens talks with leading climate experts about their views on the EU's climate transition. Topics include everything from carbon pricing, the role of climate activism and NGOs, to how to integrate climate action in all the EU’s policy measures.

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Click here to see the full series