Building Popular Support for the Energy Transition: The Battle for Hearts and Minds

This is the third online presentation of the 2020 ESB/IIEA lecture series: ReThink Energy, entitled Building Popular Support for the Energy Transition: The Battle for Hearts and Minds. In her keynote address, Dr Demski outlines the costs and benefits, for citizens, associated with the energy transition. She also argues that citizens are willing to accept some costs, but only if others – especially energy companies – also contribute. However, citizens’ trust in the energy industry and government to fairly distribute responsibilities and costs is likely to prove to be a significant incentive to achieving this energy transformation.

In her response, Ms Boyle examines the important role that the reputation of the energy industry plays in eliciting public support for the energy transformation. She discusses the clear link between reputational capital and community buy-in.

About the Speakers:

Dr Christina Demski is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST). She is a distinguished Lecturer in Psychology at Cardiff University and a member of the UK Energy Research Centre investigating public perceptions of sustainable energy system change.

Niamh Boyle is the Founder and Managing Director of The Reputations Agency, a strategic reputation and communications consultancy. She is the foremost expert and pioneer of reputation management in Ireland and her firm represents many of the leading corporate organisations in Ireland.