Can southern Europe lead an urban energy transition? Insights from the Energy Transition Roundtable in Valencia, Spain

Multi-stakeholder engagement spaces are important instruments for transition governance. Due to their nature they require acute consciousness of the local context and place they are based in. The research presented in this paper adds to the body of literature on how to govern the energy transition at a local level, and contributes to filling the gap on the role of multi-stakeholder engagement groups in the energy transition process within a southern European context. Empirical evidence is drawn from the city of Valencia, Spain, where innovative formulas are being developed. One such innovation, the Mesa de Transición Energética (MTE – Energy Round Table), emerges as a multi-stakeholder, participatory and inclusive mechanism to define the roadmap towards achieving the energy transition and urban sustainability. This new experience in the city led to the discovery and exploration of the challenges, barriers, benefits and opportunities the city had to face, as well as clarifying how such multi-stakeholder engagement spaces can facilitate the energy transition path. The research evidenced that while participants and organizers were very satisfied with the development of the stakeholder group and the resulting demonstration projects used to enhance experimentation in the city, they signaled various difficulties. Such difficulties were rooted in the context and included dealing with an uneven vision of the transition, the vulnerability of the group due to the predominant role of the local administration, and a perceived lack of action. Nevertheless, the multi-stakeholder engagement space for the energy transition in Valencia can be seen as an important driver of change for the city. It can also be seen as an experimental model to be replicated in other Spanish or southern European cities.