Carrots, sticks and sermons: Policies to unlock community energy finance in the United Kingdom

Community energy (CE) represents a potentially critical means of accelerating sustainable and equitable transition. However, in many countries, it is experiencing period stagnation, typically following the dilution or removal supportive government policies. In absence substantive capital grant funding, attracting finance has become increasingly important for CE sector but remains highly challenging to secure at scale. Policy solutions are therefore needed unlock catalyse growth. To develop policy accelerate business model innovation that can finance, this paper develops newly synthesized instrument, system analytical framework. This applied case United Kingdom (UK), employing mixed-methods approach included survey 145 projects, 33 interviews documentary evidence. drive ten recommendations presented offer an essential balance across three types instrument: 1) financial incentives ('carrots'); 2) regulations guidance (‘sticks’); 3) initiatives support dissemination information (‘sermons’). recommended mix highlights importance striking between non-financial policies, ensuring coverage all functions.