Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) are multiplying across Europe, yet most are still highly dependent on volunteer-based work. One way to support the spreading and development of the energy community concept across Europe could be to help matching young people with existing RECs, finding ways for a fruitful and long-term collaboration. During their mandate, the Italian Young Energy Ambassadors, working in the context of the EU's Citizen Energy Package and the Energy Communities Action Plan, decided to investigate the current engagement level of young people regarding renewable energy community projects and their potential interest in supporting them.

In a double survey conducted between young people and energy communities, it became clear that there is potential in bringing these two groups together: The survey found that 84% of young Italian respondents feel engaged on energy and climate issues in general, but lack knowledge on the energy community topic, while 63% of RECs have no under-35s involved at all.

Closing this specific gap could bring benefits to both parties: RECs need administrators, communicators and facilitators to realise their vision, and young people can gain hands-on experience in the energy transition leading to potential green jobs in their local context, a professional network and have an impact locally on their climate engagement.

A two-sided initiative

Our approach combined a dual survey, mapping REC demand and available skills among young people in parallel, with a matching pilot connecting motivated respondents on both sides.

The youth survey (ages 18–35) drew 627 responses across 14 core questions on engagement, motivations, preferred formats and barriers. The REC survey reached 88 respondents, covering legal form, staff capacity, perceived sustainability and the professional profiles they need most. Reaching this scale meant going where young people already are: university networks (Bologna, Padua, Politecnico di Milano, Trieste, Ferrara), youth energy networks like EYEN, and civic media outlets like Orizzonti Politici. A social media partnership with LifeGate also helped to reach over 105,000 views.

On the REC side, the RENOSS project led by RENAEL (the Italian network of local energy agencies), with direct support from AESS – Energy and Sustainable Development Agency and the Italian Forum of Energy Communities (IFEC), had been essential to reach a significant amount of respondent throughout most Italian regions.

What the numbers reveal

The youth side is ready to engage: most respondents are available both online and in person where they are currently located, and a clear majority say environmental and social impact is their main motivation to get involved. The REC side, meanwhile, has limited organisational and financial capacity, in fact 68% are managed only by volunteers, and only 9% have even one paid staff member. 56% report economic fragility, specifically the difficulty of securing stable income from energy-sharing incentive schemes and 55% report having limited time to dedicate to REC management, a direct consequence of relying on volunteers, According to the REC survey, these capacity constraints translate into demand for administrators, communicators and facilitators as much as for engineers, roles young people, whatever their own motivation, are well placed to fill.

The mismatch — and the first matches

Comparing the two datasets exposes a striking mismatch in self-perception: RECs see young people primarily as social media managers (85% demand), while youth see themselves as educators and community builders (58% supply). Format expectations diverge too: RECs' default engagement model is volunteering, unpaid curricular internships and thesis projects, especially because most RECs simply don't generate enough revenue to pay anyone — while 66% of youth prefer paid collaboration. The reason becomes clearer once you look at the age profile: 63% of youth respondents are 26–35, already past the university-internship stage, ready to start or already some years into their professional lives.

During the challenge matchmaking algorithm was developed, considering parameters like proximity, collaboration type and skills preferences. The results were promising with tens of potential matches, so it was decided to send out emails to candidates on both sides. At first, responses where low, , which can be attributed to the survey being perceived more as a request for information rather than a call to action, especially on the youth side. Hence, a more direct, one-to-one approachwas adopted. Eventually,nine collaborations were activated especially in the forms of internship, civil service and volunteering, which are already underway in Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Tuscany. For  example, one volunteer is helping a REC on the outskirts of Bologna to build its social media presence from scratch. Another has become an ambassador for a citizen-led renovation initiative, supporting the structuring and dissemination of a buying-group scheme for home renovations in Fidenza (PR). A third is supporting REC management in the Alto Vicentino area, validating membership applications and handling administrative tasks.

From evidence to a working model

Three lessons stood out along the way. Momentum decays fast: delays between survey response and follow-up cost engagement, hence why pre-existing matching infrastructure would be beneficial before outreach starts.

Volume isn't commitment: social media built broad reach, but university partnerships produced the respondents who followed through into a match, not just a survey response.

One-to-one contact remains irreplaceable: eventually matching was done individually, respondent by respondent, a labour-intensive process, but no algorithm replaces a real conversation when it comes to closing a match.

For similar matchmaking in the future, we recommend a segmented approach that matches collaboration formats to life stage: volunteering, internships and thesis work for university students, civil service and paid roles for recent graduates, and longer-term paid collaboration or apprenticeships for young professionals already in the workforce.

Short formats like hackathons and project weeks could also be organized jointly by students' organisations and RECs as an easy entry point for young people to connect with an energy community, often becoming the first step towards a longer-term match rather than a one-off interaction.

Recommendations and next steps

Building on 370 youth and 76 RECs who consented to be recontacted, and on the nine matches already piloted, we propose 5 concrete steps to increase the collaboration between energy communities and young volunteers.

A structured matching process: to scale up from a one-time survey exercise into a repeatable service and to reduce the administrative overload on RECs themselves, youth effort should be channelled via intermediaries such as energy agencies, civil service scheme providers for young people at the European (e.g. the European Solidarity Corps) or national level (e.g. Italy runs its own national equivalent, the Servizio Civile Universale);

A digital matching platform: a lightweight platform, searchable by location, skills and availability, would replace ad hoc spreadsheets with infrastructure that persists between survey rounds. Renewable Energy Communities could publish “open positions” in the form of volunteering, internship or even paid collaborations when possible, asking for support in specific topics or activities, such as administrative, engagement, communication, etc.

Existing EU-level tools, like the European Commission's Citizen Energy Advisory Hub and its map of citizen energy projects, could offer a first layer of visibility to build on. Coordination and the underlying data infrastructure would sit best at EU level, while the actual matching and day-to-day facilitation would need to stay local, carried out by intermediaries who already know their territory, such as energy agencies, civil service providers and public administrations.3. Capacity building at scale

A context specific webinar series in national language is recommended to deepen young people's understanding of how RECs actually operate in terms of legal form, governance, day-to-day management. This responds directly to a barrier the REC survey flagged repeatedly: RECs want to mentor but lack the time and structure to do so. A shared, externally-run capacity-building training lowers that cost for every REC rather than asking each one to build it alone.

Direct economic support: dedicated funding for youth-in-REC pilots should be considered at the European or National level?, combining European Civil Service and available European Funds to allow Energy Agencies and RECs to host young representatives moving beyond the volunteering-only collaboration.

Replication across the EU: the dual-survey methodology itself is designed to be national context independent. Mapping youth supply and REC demand in parallel produces a reusable evidence base wherever RECs exist, and the model could be replicated in other Member States through European youth and energy networks. We see real potential for it to be embedded as a work package in upcoming EU project proposals, turning a national pilot into a template other countries can adapt rather than reinvent.

Together, these five threads are what would take this from a one-country survey into a durable, EU-wide pathway to bring together young people and energy communities, supporting further maturation of the sector.

Why this matters

RECs need all the support available to scale their operations, to professionalise and develop additional projects. Young people might be looking for opportunities to apply their knowledge, to have an impact locally and gain first-hand experience in the energy sector.. Realising the potential of a collaboration between these two parties could bring opportunities to both sides, while driving social cohesion and local energy transitions.

This opinion editorial is produced in co-operation with the European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) - the biggest annual event dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe.

Cover: photo by Envato