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Sustainable energy has been on the political agenda in Denmark for decades. This chapter will highlight how wind turbine production quite unforeseen became a great success in Denmark before the turn of the Millennium. An integrative public leadership approach using a mix of supportive institutional designs and instruments, combined with an unexpected bottom-up pressure for alternatives to nuclear power, promoted ways for wind turbine innovation and production in the 1970s. After the turn of the Millennium, being a huge financial success creating many new jobs and export has it developed into a cluster based on huge investments and professionalised developers. The comprehensive transition of wind turbine production in Denmark, from small scale to large scale, has however provided a counterproductive decrease in community commitment for local renewable energy production.

Denmark is known internationally as a climate frontrunner and not only due to wind turbine production and planning. The status is obtained by polycentric governance applied in cooperative-owned energy systems. The Danish response to climate change is a concerted effort of a plethora of public and private actors, providing a crucial momentum and robustness in climate politics not at least generated from a genuine civic society involvement. ‘The Danish Energy Model’; a withhold strategic effort to combine ambitious renewable energy goals, energy efficiency targets and political support of technical and industrial development has for four decades, succeeded in providing high levels of cheap energy supply, while partly reducing fossil fuel dependency at the same time.

After years of attempting to develop renewable energy (RE) mainly through large private sector initiatives, the UK government has broadened its approach to provide more support for other actors in this sector. The purpose of this paper is to assess what role social enterprise (SE) activities can play in the development of the RE sector in the UK.

The approach consists of an initial effort to map the sector in terms of project types; and to assess the benefit of supporting SE activities in RE through an empirical case study. Two types of SE‐RE initiatives are examined here, namely a Scottish SE‐RE consultancy (the Highlands and Islands Renewable Energy Company – HICEC) and the various SEs it supports in developing RE projects through grants like the Scottish Community and Household Renewables Initiative (SCHRI).

A typology of enterprise activities in RE is developed, based on activities along the RE supply chain. The case study demonstrates the value of partnership working between HICEC staff and the staff of local SEs, and suggests that the emergence of a community of practice is a key benefit of the SCHRI and the collaborative way in which it was implemented by HICEC. The success of this approach does throw up questions about replicability in different geographical settings.

This is the first paper to explore SE activities in RE. It illustrates that collaborative learning‐by‐doing by individuals across organisational boundaries is key for the successful implementation of RE projects that are new to the UK.

Renewable energy infrastructure is an important asset class in the context of reducing global carbon emissions going forward. This includes solar power, wind farms, hydro, battery storage and hydrogen. This paper examines the risk-adjusted performance and diversification benefits of listed renewable energy infrastructure globally over Q1:2009–Q4:2022 to examine the role of renewable energy infrastructure in a global infrastructure portfolio and in a global mixed-asset portfolio. The performance of renewable energy infrastructure is compared with the other major infrastructure sectors and other major asset classes. The strategic investment implications for institutional investors and renewable energy infrastructure in their portfolios going forward are also highlighted. This includes identifying effective pathways for renewable energy infrastructure exposure by institutional investors.

Using quarterly total returns, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of global listed renewable energy infrastructure over Q1:2009–Q4:2022 is assessed. Asset allocation diagrams are used to assess the role of renewable energy infrastructure in a global infrastructure portfolio and in a global mixed-asset portfolio.

Listed renewable energy infrastructure was seen to underperform the other infrastructure sectors and other major asset classes over 2009–2022. While delivering portfolio diversification benefits, no renewable energy infrastructure was seen in the optimal infrastructure portfolio or mixed-asset portfolio. More impressive performance characteristics were seen by nonlisted infrastructure funds over this period. Practical reasons for these results are provided as well as effective pathways going forward are identified for the fuller inclusion of renewable energy infrastructure in institutional investor portfolios.

Institutional investors have an important role in supporting reduced global carbon emissions via their investment mandates and asset allocations. Renewable energy infrastructure will be a key asset to assist in the delivery of this important agenda for a greener economy and addressing global warming. Based on this performance analysis, effective pathways are identified for institutional investors of different size assets under management (AUM) to access renewable energy infrastructure. This will see institutional investors embracing critical investment issues as well as environmental and social issues in their investment strategies going forward.

This paper is the first published empirical research analysis on the performance of renewable energy infrastructure at a global level. This research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical decision-making by institutional investors in the renewable energy infrastructure space. The ultimate aim of this paper is to articulate the potential strategic role of renewable energy infrastructure as an important infrastructure sector in the institutional real asset investment space and to identify effective pathways to achieve this renewable energy infrastructure exposure, as institutional investors focus on the strategic issues in reducing global carbon emissions in the context of increased global warming.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the development of “Green” jobs in one region of the European Union, Scotland, where the government has sought to develop renewable and sustainable energy industries and associated employment.

The paper analyses selected secondary data and policy documents and conceptualises issues concerning employment in the renewable energy sector.

It analyses published data and projections on employment in renewable energy sectors, considering the reasons for the lower actual job creation. Many of the jobs in the renewable energy sector are likely to be high skilled, so there is need to support the development of low-skilled workers and job seekers so that they can enter and progress in the industry. Similarly there is a strong gender bias in the industry which may similarly reduce the entry and retention of the best staff and inhibit social equity.

The paper suggests that “Career first” recruitment and development policies are needed which emphasise improving both productivity and the “quality” and attractiveness of sustainable, long-term careers in the sector.

In addition to relying on general labour attraction policies and separate industry-specific skills initiatives for those already in work, more attention needs to be given to developing sustainable employment with career progression for people moving into, or already in, the industry.

The links between support for those moving into jobs and developing the skills of existing workers in sustainable industries have been under researched and this paper adds new conceptual developments, in terms of “Career” first approaches and empirical analysis of employment in renewable industries in Scotland.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and discuss stakeholder issues faced by renewable energy megaprojects and in particular solar and wind power projects and their relevance to socioeconomic evaluation of megaprojects.

The paper uses secondary data collected from the recent literature published on stakeholder issues face by mega solar and wind power energy generation projects around the world. The issues are then analysed across specific challenges in five continents where these projects are being developed. The paper then focuses on the literature on energy justice to elaborate the type of issues being faced by renewable energy megaprojects contributing to the achievement of UN Sustainable Goal 7 and their impact on vulnerable communities where these projects are situated.

Renewable energy megaprojects are rarely discussed in the project management literature on megaprojects despite their size and importance in delivering sustainable development goals. While these projects provide social benefits they also create issues of justice due to their impact of vulnerable populations living is locations where these projects are situated. The justice issues faced include procedural justice, distributive justice, recognition inequalities. The type of justice issues was found to vary intensity in the developed, emerging and developing economies. It was found that nonprofit organisations are embarking on strategies to alleviate energy justice issues in innovative ways. It was also found that, in some instances, smaller local projects developed with community participation could actually contribute more equitable to the UN sustainable development goals avoiding the justice issues posed by mega renewable energy projects.

The research uses secondary data due to which it is difficult to present a more comprehensive picture of stakeholder issues involving renewable energy megaprojects. The justice issues revealed through thesis paper with renewable energy megaprojects are also present in conventional megaprojects which have not been discussed in the project management literature. Post-COVID-19 these justice issues are likely to become mor prevalent due to the pandemic's impact on vulnerable population exacerbating the issues and increasing their severity on these populations. Therefore it is becoming even more critical to take these into account while developing renewable energy megaprojects.

Proper identification and response to energy justice issues can help in alleviating stakeholder issues in renewable energy megaprojects.

Contributes to the equitable achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7.

This paper addresses a gap in the project management literature on the exploration of stakeholder issues on renewable energy megaprojects. It also brings out the importance of justice issues which can assist in expanding stakeholders issues faced by megaprojects as these issues have not received sufficient attention in the past in the project management literature.