Financing transformation, participation and distribution issues
The energy transition requires major investments in the future. Their financing is an essential basic condition for the success of the transformation. The design of the framework conditions for these financing tasks will be decisive for the efficiency of the transformation. The more cheaply it can be organised, the more efficiently it can succeed. At the same time, fundamental questions arise about economic viability and social participation – including social justice. Rising infrastructure costs, new funding instruments and changes in energy prices are having an impact on companies, the public sector and private households.
At the same time, these very fundamental changes are creating many new opportunities. However, they also mean the end of many previous developments and business models. The design of the transformation therefore also determines the participation opportunities of citizens and companies. This is not only about financial advantages or disadvantages, but also about acceptance, opportunities for engagement and the long-term safeguarding of social cohesion. The law is central here because it plays a decisive role in shaping the distribution of financial and other resources.
Possible research approaches
- How can the financial resources required for the energy transition be mobilised for the expansion and conversion of energy infrastructure – and what role should private actors as well as the federal, state and local governments play in this in the light of constitutional financial law?
- How can funding instruments for the expansion of renewable energies be designed in the future, especially against the backdrop of tight budgetary resources?
- How can the financial and other burdens of the energy transition be distributed fairly, and social and economic imbalances reduced?
- How can participation, acceptance and co-creation of the energy transition be realised through existing instruments – for example, energy sharing, citizen energy, tenant electricity or financial participation – and through new approaches?
- What role can taxes and levies on energy and CO2 play as a useful control instrument and how can negative social or economic distributional effects be avoided?