Opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange were the topic of discussion when members of the University's Just Transition Lab (JLT) met with representatives from Great British Energy (GB Energy) and the North East Scotland Climate Action Network (NESCAN) yesterday.
GB Energy was represented by Martha Selwyn (Social Sustainability lead), Fraser Stewart (Local Energy lead), and Michael O’Brien (Stakeholder lead), who outlined the organisation’s strategic remit alongside an overview of the newly launched Local Power Plan.
Their presentation focused on GB Energy’s emerging approach to local energy development and the importance of building strong, meaningful stakeholder engagement frameworks across the UK.
A key highlight of the session was the discussion on how the Just Transition Labs research activities - including insights from current UKRI funded projects JUST-Systems (£5.6 million), TRANSECTS (£2.4 million) and recent work on measuring place-based transitions - can directly support GB Energy’s mission for cleaner energy and a fair transition for UK communities.
The group explored shared priorities around community engagement, social sustainability and evidence-driven approaches to local energy decision‑making.
The meeting concluded with a commitment from all sides to continue developing the partnership. Immediate next steps include ongoing knowledge exchange, deeper collaboration across research into communities, planning and place approaches to transition, and GB Energy’s recent agreement to chair the Independent Advisory Board for JUST‑Systems, strengthening strategic alignment going forward.