From Individual Action to Collective Hives: Identifying Gains in Community-oriented Urban Heating Transitions

To support just urban energy transitions, we propose a flexible ”policy rationale” framework tailored to the level of communal engagement. This framework develops decarbonisation scenarios along an engagement spectrum, evaluating trade-offs between decarbonisation gains, investment costs, and social justice for The Hague, The Netherlands. Through a capability-sensitive approach, local vulnerabilities were identified. We show that while individual approaches offer higher gains per household, they leave vulnerable communities behind. Alternatively, community-oriented solutions address social justice concerns, requiring limited investments and decarbonising communities that otherwise cannot. Therefore, policy efforts should focus on reducing barriers for those communities, to foster long-term and just decarbonisation.