New research article published #openaccess in PLC ! 🤩 Loïc Cobut and @amandine-orsini.bsky.social (CReSPo - UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) demonstrate that local governance structures can contribute to overcoming or maintaining carbon-intensive lock-ins. 🆓 Download here: doi.org/10.54195/plc...

👉 Qualitative research based on fieldwork interviews with 66 actors of local energy governance in 18 rural municipalities in Wallonia 👉 Authors distinguish two governance systems at the local level: polycentric and top-down.

The main takes from their research? 🔁 Municipalities with polycentric governance systems manage to escape lock-in dynamics thanks to local climate stakeholders involvement and a reinforced local institutional capacity.

🔽 Top-down local authorities isolate themselves from the local energy expertise of local climate stakeholders and maintain weak institutional capacities, which contributes to maintaining existing lock-in dynamics.