Good Practices
Good Practices

Activity

Implementing the EU Pact for Engagement

RGI’s contribution to ensuring early, regular and meaningful stakeholder participation in grid development, including regulatory enhancement of stakeholder engagement activities

Activity

Topic

Public Acceptance & Engagement

Dimension

Energy & Society

Launched in 2023 by the European Commission, the EU Pact for Engagement is part of the Action Plan for Grids to ensure early, regular and meaningful stakeholder engagement in electricity grid development. As such, it acknowledges the importance of engagement activities for grid deployment.

Accelerating electricity grids is crucial to meet the European Union’s decarbonisation goals. Acknowledging the importance of engagement activities within this context, the European Commission launched the Pact for Engagement in 2023. As part of the Action Plan for Grids, it aims to ensure early, regular and meaningful stakeholder engagement in electricity grid development.

Implementing the Pact for Engagement

Together with the European Commission (DG ENER) and the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), RGI has been leading a multi-stakeholder process aiming at regulatory enhancement of stakeholder engagement activities in grid development.

In early 2025, a joint survey between RGI, DG ENER and ACER was launched, aiming at closing the knowledge gap on regulatory practices and differences across Europe.

The survey results presented at the 2025 Infrastructure Forum led to a specific task included in the the Forum’s Conclusions, inviting the Commission, RGI and ACER, in collaboration with EU DSO Entity, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E), and other stakeholders, to co-create a roadmap for the development of Public Engagement Plans (PEPs).

Public Engagement Plans

PEPs are intended to:

Support grid operators on how to plan, implement, and evaluate public engagement activities throughout a project’s cycle.

Provide transparency and comparability across Member States and regulatory environments.

Enable learning and continuous improvement, supported by peer review and practice sharing.

Developing PEPs is a co-design, inclusive and transparent process with active participation and contribution from actors such as transmission system operators (TSOs), distribution system operators (DSOs), civil society, regulators and policymakers.

Led by the EU Commission, RGI and ACER, this process consists of two main activities:

01

Regular meetings of Pact for Engagement stakeholders, with rotating chairmanship, which provide a safe and open space to share knowledge, discuss solutions and ask questions in relation to stakeholder engagement practices, steered by 10 Guiding Principles endorsed at the 2024 PCI Energy Days.

02

Dedicated focus group meetings bringing together selected grid operators, regulators and policy makers that have been discussing and co-developing a draft roadmap for PEPs.

The intermediate results have been presented and discussed at the ‘Power of Participation’ public workshop in October 2025. The final version will be presented at the 2026 Infrastructure Forum in May 2026 in Copenhagen.

contact

Stephanie Bätjer

Director – Communication

Stephanie Bätjer

Director – Communication

t: +49 30 2332 11017
Stephanie Bätjer is leading the Renewables Grid Initiative’s communication and event activities as Programme Manager – Communication. She is also heavily involved in RGI’s policy work and all activities that look at social engagement around grids. She previously worked in the communications team of the European Climate Foundation. Stephanie has studied at the Universities of Marburg and Hamburg, Germany, and the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. She holds degrees in political science and journalism.

Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz

Director – Energy Systems

Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz

Director – Energy Systems

t: +49 30 233211014
Andrzej has been working at RGI since May 2017, having previously cooperated with RGI as researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Currently, he works as a Director for Energy Systems, being responsible for projects and activities under the RGI’s Technical Dimension addressing the questions how to plan, design and implement a carbon-free and optimised energy system. He holds a Master Degree in International Relations from the Wrocław University and completed his PhD at the School of Social Sciences and Technology at the Technical University of Munich.

Dr. Ira Shefer

Manager – Energy Systems

Dr. Ira Shefer

Manager – Energy Systems

t: +49 30 2332 11000
Ira joined the Technical Team at RGI in July 2023. Previously he worked in the BMBF-funded research project Ariadne on local acceptance of wind energy in Germany. Ira holds a Ph.d. from the Technical University of Munich, researching transnational collaborations and their impacts on local climate governance and policy making. He has a MA of Environmental Studies at Nagoya University (Japan) and has a joint Bachelor of Law (LLB) and Asian Studies from Haifa University (Israel. Ira was engaged in several research initiatives that addressed, among others, urban climate governance (at RIFS, Germany) and green building (ILGBC, Israel). He was also a reporter and sections editor at an Israeli magazine for seven years, covering environmental and development issues.

Stephanie Bätjer

Director – Communication

Stephanie Bätjer

Director – Communication

t: +49 30 2332 11017
Stephanie Bätjer is leading the Renewables Grid Initiative’s communication and event activities as Programme Manager – Communication. She is also heavily involved in RGI’s policy work and all activities that look at social engagement around grids. She previously worked in the communications team of the European Climate Foundation. Stephanie has studied at the Universities of Marburg and Hamburg, Germany, and the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. She holds degrees in political science and journalism.

Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz

Director – Energy Systems

Dr. Andrzej Ceglarz

Director – Energy Systems

t: +49 30 233211014
Andrzej has been working at RGI since May 2017, having previously cooperated with RGI as researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). Currently, he works as a Director for Energy Systems, being responsible for projects and activities under the RGI’s Technical Dimension addressing the questions how to plan, design and implement a carbon-free and optimised energy system. He holds a Master Degree in International Relations from the Wrocław University and completed his PhD at the School of Social Sciences and Technology at the Technical University of Munich.

Dr. Ira Shefer

Manager – Energy Systems

Dr. Ira Shefer

Manager – Energy Systems

t: +49 30 2332 11000
Ira joined the Technical Team at RGI in July 2023. Previously he worked in the BMBF-funded research project Ariadne on local acceptance of wind energy in Germany. Ira holds a Ph.d. from the Technical University of Munich, researching transnational collaborations and their impacts on local climate governance and policy making. He has a MA of Environmental Studies at Nagoya University (Japan) and has a joint Bachelor of Law (LLB) and Asian Studies from Haifa University (Israel. Ira was engaged in several research initiatives that addressed, among others, urban climate governance (at RIFS, Germany) and green building (ILGBC, Israel). He was also a reporter and sections editor at an Israeli magazine for seven years, covering environmental and development issues.

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the EU or LIFE Programme. Neither the EU nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.