Societal engagement in geothermal energy in the United Kingdom: early lessons from a nascent sector

Whilst still in its infancy, there has recently been an increased focus from both the public and private sectors on developing the UK geothermal sector, and the capacity for geothermal heat and electricity production is beginning to increase. In terms of societal engagement, top-down models of decision-making (initiated by project developers and/or operators) with an instrumental goal of fostering acceptance tend to dominate. From a justice perspective, this elides the important aspects of process, procedure and distribution of costs and benefits in energy projects. Yet, we have also found examples of societal engagement practices driven by other goals, such as a commitment to transparency and accountability, with some geothermal developers and operators demonstrating an “ethics of care”. We advocate for future projects to go beyond “communicating to” publics and towards “developing with” publics, to ensure that the geothermal energy sector contributes fairly to the energy transition.