Energy sovereignty – which is based on the highest level of democracy – means to listen to, give voice to, empower, meaningfully engage with, and encourage voting by the largest number of people possible. They must have the democratic power to decide what kind of energy model they want. In other words, how people want to source, own, organise and supply energy. For example, what kind of energy-related policies should be implemented by their public administration, energy enterprises and energy communities and how these entities can be fundamentally democratised. The aim is to maximise long-term social, environmental, economic, political and cultural benefits for all inhabitants of a territory, whilst also respecting the sovereignty and rights of people and nature elsewhere, including all human and non-human life.
The Municipalist Manifesto proposes a profound change to the current energy model. It covers the following energy-related thematic areas: energy poverty, participation, transport, ecofeminism, generation, distribution, retailing and data ownership.
Photo: Barthelemy de Mazenod