Energy communities have become a key market actor in home-grown renewable energy, reducing local communities’ import dependency, enhancing their resilience through social initiatives, and thus contributing to Europe’s energy security and strategic independence. The European Commission has acknowledged that energy communities that produce and consume locally are a way to tackle the energy crisis by shielding consumers from volatile wholesale markets, and by reducing losses during transport, helping to manage demand on the grid. In a recent report by the Council of European Energy Regulators, the role of renewable energy communities to mitigate the effects of high market prices for members in Italy and the Netherlands during the most recent energy crisis is recognised too.

In our response to the European Commission's call for evidence on the revision of the EU Energy Security Framework, we highlight that supporting energy communities with financing and capacity building through the Energy Security Framework would contribute to the achievement of several EU objectives. We also ask for an EU level policy objective for community ownership of renewable energy production.