Rural Europe towards the Clean Energy Transition

2026-07-22

Rural regions will play a crucial role when it comes to (a) achieving the stringent targets the EU and its nations have set for greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2030 and 2050 and (b) for ending EU’s dependence in Russian fossil fuels. A key element is to provide the continent with the drastic increase of renewable energy capacity needed to radically bring fossil fuel consumption down. Wind, solar, biomass, and other energy infrastructure will be crucial and a large portion of such installations will be built in rural regions. Regional planning, land use, permitting, etc., will frequently be in the hands of rural communities. To accelerate the clean energy transition they need first, a good understanding of their role and which decisions must be made, and second a boost of capacity to advance planning and move to implementation. Rural and small communities do not have access to the same human resources as urban areas and are therefore less capable of providing swift decisions due to lack of skills and competitiveness. RECET aims to support and enhance administrations’ and stakeholders’ capacity in rural regions to play a strong role in accelerating the green transition, while ensuring local acceptance. Through a capacity building process, the project will (a) strengthen technical and social skills to accelerate local climate action, (b) reinforce cooperation across all sectors, (c) facilitate the delivery of realistic local and regional plans that will be implemented and (d) disseminate best practices for successful local stakeholder and community engagement and implementation. Special emphasis is put on the role of regional planning as a successful tool to implement clean energy transition policies. By reinforcing capacity locally RECET supports rural European regions in socio-economic transformations that will deliver on the climate ambition and spark local growth, carving a prosperous pathway for strong and resilient rural communities.

Iceland

2025-10-15