Getting warmed up: Challenges to participatory decarbonization of a local residential heating system in Poland

• Due to the current energy crisis, fossil fuel-based heating is increasingly problematized as a challenge. • The changing context strongly influences householder engagement – both discursive and material – in the low-carbon transition. • Householders’ engagement increases with rising heating costs but their values and expectations also matter. • Householders vary not only in capacities and competences but also in their dependence on collective and institutional support. • A heuristic tool of personas can serve to map and operationalize the different modes of householder engagement. This article describes the current and potential engagement of households in decarbonizing a residential heating system in Poland. Using the discussion on energy citizenship, we identified modes of householder engagement – material and discursive – in low-carbon energy transitions. Next, based on empirical data from a survey, desk research, interviews, and citizen workshops, we established enabling and hindering contextual factors for engagement and conducted a two-stage cluster analysis to identify six personas (householder types). We then examined each persona's current and potential engagement against the identified modes of engagement and contextual factors. Our findings indicate that, until recently, fossil fuels were an unquestioned heat source in Polish households. The shifting external environment, notably the energy crisis resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the changing regulatory framework, has stimulated increased household interest in low-carbon transition. However, one must recognize the householders’ varying approaches and values in the process.