An interdisciplinary approach for successful municipal energy transition communication

The energy transition toward a sustainable, decentralized energy supply requires the active participation of local municipalities. Its success depends on acceptance and participation across all sections of the population. A role-specific communication strategy is therefore essential to meet the different communication and information habits, value systems, and needs. In this study, a corresponding transactional communication approach is proposed and evaluated, in which communication is understood as a dynamic and interactive process that is oriented toward preference-specific roles. The methodological approach transfers both Jakobson’s communication model from linguistics and Freeman’s matrix from stakeholder management to the context of municipal energy transition communication. In line with our newly proposed agile reference process, a contextualization-based instead of a predominantly functionally oriented energy transition communication strategy can thus be formulated. Applying Jakobson’s model, roles are described primarily in terms of their communicative aspects rather than their functional meaning. The new interdisciplinary approach is demonstrated using the example of a municipality. Results are used to demonstrate a role-specific communication strategy as the base of the subsequent derivation of role-specific actions and instruments.