The big picture:
Energy isn’t just about electricity. It’s the circulatory system of modern life—powering food, housing, mobility, healthcare, and communication.

Around the world, communities are taking back control of energy systems and redesigning them as public infrastructure—essential to health, resilience, and justice—not just a commodity to be bought and sold.

Why it matters

Air pollution, energy poverty, and climate risk share a common root: extractive energy systems designed for profit, not public health.

What’s changing: Communities are flipping the script—building local, community-owned energy that keeps power, value, and decision-making close to home.

How the shift is happening

Energy as a public health system

Energy choices directly shape health outcomes.

Evidence:
• Clean power reduces asthma and respiratory illness
• Cooling and heating reduce heat stress and mortality
• Lower energy bills reduce medical and financial strain

Takeaway: Grid decisions are public health decisions.

Community solar, microgrids & local ownership

Communities are developing solar co-ops, municipal utilities, and neighborhood microgrids.

Why it works:
• Energy stays local
• Savings are reinvested in housing, transit, and care
• Reliability improves during outages

Indigenous & ancestral energy sovereignty

Indigenous nations are leading renewable projects grounded in stewardship, cultural alignment, and long-term responsibility to land and future generations.

Key insight: The most resilient energy systems are rooted in place, not extraction.

Electrifying everything—together

EVs, heat pumps, and building retrofits can cut emissions and costs—but only if coordinated.

What communities are doing:
• Planning electrification at neighborhood scale
• Aligning upgrades with grid capacity
• Lowering bills instead of overwhelming systems

Financing the future cooperatively

Communities are unlocking clean energy through new financial models.

Tools include:
• Community bonds
• Green banks
• Pay-as-you-save programs
• Public–public partnerships

Goal: Make clean energy affordable at scale without privatizing the benefits.

Resilience hubs & disaster-ready communities

Schools, libraries, churches, and clinics are becoming solar-plus-storage resilience hubs.

Why it matters:
• Power during blackouts
• Cooling during heatwaves
• Safe spaces during storms

Energy resilience saves lives.

Participatory power planning

Communities are opening energy decisions to the public.

How:
• Citizens’ assemblies
• Participatory budgeting
• Community benefits agreements

Result: Greater trust, better outcomes, and democratic control over critical infrastructure.

The Global South leads

Villages, towns, and cities across the Global South are leapfrogging fossil fuels.

What’s emerging:
• Decentralized solar
• Mini-grids
• Women-led energy enterprises

Why it matters: The clean energy transition doesn’t need to follow extractive paths to succeed.

Youth, creators & citizen media

Young leaders and local creators are translating energy policy into stories people can see themselves in—through podcasts, videos, and social platforms.

Impact: Clean energy moves from abstraction to action when communities tell their own stories.

The bottom line

Energy isn’t just power—it’s health, safety, and dignity.

As communities reclaim energy systems, they’re redesigning society’s foundations to be more resilient, equitable, and human-centered.

What to watch:
The future of energy will be decided not only by technology, but by who owns it, who governs it, and who benefits.

When power is shared, communities thrive.