Report on Citizen Engagement Events & Policy Roadmap

Executive Summary

This document responds to the commitment in the Description of Action to report on citizen-oriented engagement activities and to formulate a roadmap that gives a direct role to policy makers, high-emitting sectors and citizens in the sustainable energy transition. In the original project design, particular emphasis was placed on dialogue with energy communities in Crete, possible synergies with Europe Direct, and the wider societal acceptance of geothermal energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and geological hydrogen storage.

TWINN2SET implemented citizen and public engagement through a broader portfolio of formats than originally foreseen. A particularly representative example was the citizen-engagement workshop organised during the 40 Years FORTH celebration, which combined keynote speeches with a public photography exhibition on sustainable energy transition and climate change, as well as a cultural programme, thereby expanding the project’s outreach beyond conventional workshop formats. Alongside the dedicated citizen-engagement event organised in Chania in September 2023 in the context of the 40-year anniversary of FORTH, the project and the Institute of Geoenergy/FORTH reached wider audiences through open workshops, public exhibitions, Researchers’ Night participation, conference and webinar presentations, specialist media coverage, FORTH scientific retreats, collaborative dissemination with other European projects, participation in the Regional Committee for Hydrogen in Crete, and a final Short Conference on Geoenergy and Energy Transition.

This broader engagement portfolio also included the two TWINN2SET Summer Schools, which functioned not only as capacity-building actions but also as outward-facing stakeholder engagement formats. The 1st Summer School on Energy Transition, organised in Chania on 1–5 July 2024, combined technical and non-technical lectures, interactive workshops and joint lectures delivered in collaboration with the 2nd Hydrogen Summer School in Kozani, thereby creating a clear synergy with the Green Skills for Hydrogen initiative and its coordinator (CLuBE). The 2nd Summer School on Energy Transition & Geothermal Energy, held in hybrid form from 30 June to 4 July 2025, further broadened this role by bringing together students, researchers, experts and stakeholders through lectures, laboratory visits and knowledge exchange. This cross-project synergy was further formalised through the MoU signed on 1 July 2024 between FORTH/IG and CluBE to connect TWINN2SET and Green Skills for Hydrogen through joint upskilling and reskilling activities, common keynote hybrid speeches and joint dissemination actions.

This broadened approach is consistent with the project’s quadruple-helix logic and with the wider communication strategy foreseen in the application, which targeted citizens, energy communities, industry, policy makers, financial actors and the scientific community.

The policy roadmap proposed is organised around six pillars: (i) governance and regulatory readiness, (ii) research, data and testing infrastructure, (iii) industrial uptake and regional demonstration, (iv) social acceptance and citizen engagement, (v) skills and human capital for the green economy, and (vi) finance and market formation. The recommendations are intentionally framed for Greece and Crete, but are also relevant to wider European cooperation in geothermal energy, CCS and underground hydrogen storage. The roadmap emphasises that scientific excellence alone is not sufficient: sustained transition requires public trust, regulatory clarity, investment mobilisation, place-based innovation ecosystems and credible channels for dialogue between research institutions, industry, public authorities and citizens.