How to improve the social acceptance of ecological transition projects

In Catalonia, there is no single “social acceptance law,” but rather a set of already approved decree laws and legislative amendments that integrate local participation, co-investment mechanisms, and territorial dialogue requirements in ecological transition projects, especially renewables. The current core is the decree law to increase the resilience of the electricity supply, approved by the Govern on October 28, 2025, and ratified by the Parlament, which deeply reforms the processing regime for wind, photovoltaic, and battery parks and introduces a specific article on “measures to improve social acceptance.” Added to this are Decree-law 24/2021 on local participation in renewable projects and the modifications later incorporated in Law 11/2026 on fiscal, financial, and administrative measures. Meanwhile, planning plans and instruments (PLATER, PINECCAT30, biodiversity and green infrastructure law) that will strengthen the territorial and social component remain under processing, but the basic legal framework on social acceptance is already in force.

1. Decree law on electrical resilience and social acceptance (2025)

The Parlament processed and approved the decree law to increase the resilience of the electricity supply in Catalonia, published in the Official Bulletin of the Parlament as Decret llei 22/2025 (initiative 203‑00028/15), according to parliamentary documentation available in the Parlament bulletins and in the admission to processing publication. This decree:

• Modifies Decret llei 16/2019 on climate emergency and renewables, introducing a new article 9 bis on “measures to improve social acceptance of renewable energy projects”.
• Requires that, before public information, promoters of wind parks >10 MW and photovoltaic parks >5 MW hold public presentations in affected municipalities and prepare a social acceptance assessment report of the project.
• Strengthens the local participation offer: at least 20% of the project’s capital must be opened to local investors, and it clarifies how this percentage is calculated when the project is channeled through multiple companies.
• Declares energy communities to be of public utility and creates a specific registry, encouraging local administrations and citizens to be involved in project ownership.
• Limits the possibility of general municipal moratoriums on renewables and links urban and environmental processing to a framework where the general principle favors these projects, while preserving strategic agricultural land.

The content of the decree aligns with the assessments of chambers of commerce, which highlighted that the new framework recognizes for the first time renewables and storage as infrastructures of higher public interest, simplifies processing, and adapts urban regulations, according to the Barcelona Chamber in this note. The Govern framed the decree in the need to avoid blackouts like that of April 28, 2025, and to unblock dozens of pending projects, as explained by Minister Paneque in an intervention recorded in this press release.

2. Mandatory local participation and citizen co-investment

Since 2021, Catalonia also has a local participation regime in renewables through Decret llei 24/2021, which reserves 20% of the capital of projects >5 MW for local investors, a model cited as pioneering in a comparative analysis on participative investment in renewables published by eldiario.es (article). The more recent electrical resilience decree modifies and clarifies this regime (article 9 bis), clarifies the subjects who can access local participation (people and companies based in the municipality, citizen energy communities, cooperatives, etc.), and defines the calculation of the 20% when there are multiple vehicle companies.

Sector organizations such as ACATCOR and UNEFCAT have emphasized that the new framework, the result of an agreement after the parliamentary rejection of a previous decree (Decret llei 12/2025), combines legal certainty, irrigation protection, and social acceptance. In their statement celebrating the approval of the new decree law, they highlight that the text “places Catalonia in a stronger position to advance towards a renewable, distributed, and socially accepted energy system,” and that it arises from broad territorial consensus (UNEF note). The prior UNEFCAT‑ACATCOR agreement to reconcile irrigation and photovoltaics, presented in the Parlament as the basis for the new regulation, can be consulted in this document.

3. Other normative pieces and ongoing plans

Law 11/2026 on fiscal, financial, administrative, and public sector measures, published in the DOGC (text in DOGC), includes a modification of Decret llei 16/2019 (article 114) that consolidates part of the changes in renewables and ecological transition. Additionally, the Parlament has approved Resolution 400/XV on the development of renewable energy infrastructures (resolution), which urges the Govern to present the sectoral territorial plan for the implementation of renewable energies (PLATER) before the end of 2025, with processing through public information and territorial debate.

In parallel, the Govern promotes the Integrated Energy and Climate Plan of Catalonia 2030 (PINECCAT30) with a specific participatory process, according to the official note available at this link, and prepares a future biodiversity law and a green infrastructure plan, which, as Minister Paneque explained in the Parlament, are expected to be brought to the Chamber before the end of 2026, as reported by Demócrata in this information. These instruments will strengthen territorial and environmental justice criteria but are still in drafting or future parliamentary processing phases.

4. Summary of processing status

In summary, as of August 2026, the key normative architecture on social acceptance of ecological transition projects in Catalonia is already approved and in force (renewables and electrical resilience decree laws, local participation regime, recognition of energy communities), while the normative emphasis shifts towards territorial planning (PLATER, PINECCAT30) and new sectoral laws still in preparation. Social acceptance is regulated transversally: obligation of information and public presentation, citizen co-investment, protection of agricultural land, and prohibition of general municipal vetoes. No further information is available in the consulted sources on new specific regional initiatives focused exclusively on “social acceptance” beyond these already consolidated pieces.

For additional context on energy and ecological transition policy in Catalonia, among others, the following official documents and news can be consulted: L’Energètica and project purchase, Comunitatenergetica.cat platform, energy communities, photovoltaic model and biodiversity, as well as various resolutions and agreements published in the DOGC and the Parlament (relationship model with L’Energètica, industrial decarbonization program, public consultation on water planning, among others).

In Spain, energy and clean technology sectoral clusters do not have administrative “competencies” in the legal sense (permits, authorizations, etc.), but they do perform very specific functions in promoting renewable projects and their territorial integration: they articulate the value chain, channel investment and public aid, act as collective interlocutors before autonomous communities and municipalities, and help ensure projects are designed “with the territory and not over the territory.” This role is clearly seen in renewable hydrogen clusters, business platforms linked to wind energy, or entities like the Clúster de l’Energia Eficient de Catalunya. Below are their main functions and some examples.

Strategic functions of clusters in renewables

In terms of industrial policy, clusters act as ecosystem articulators: connecting companies, technology centers, administrations, and investors around a common strategy. An analysis published by the newspaper Demócrata emphasizes that clusters can be strategic by “connecting science, industry, and market, facilitating business scaling, and promoting participation in new European initiatives,” measuring their success by tangible results such as retained investment or new productive capacities (Biotech Act and industrial policy).

In renewables, this translates into several de facto competencies:

• Design of integrated projects: the “valleys” or hydrogen clusters funded by MITECO group production, storage, transformation, and industrial consumption in the same location, leveraging economies of scale and consumer diversity. This is described in the aid to seven large hydrogen valleys, totaling 2,278 MW of electrolysis and mobilizing 4,907 million euros (MITECO note and Moncloa note).
• Attraction and channeling of funds: in the IPCEI Hy2Use, several Spanish projects of 100 MW are configured as hydrogen clusters linked to industrial hubs (refineries, steelworks, ports), receiving 524 million euros from the PRTR and co-financed by IDAE (IPCEI Hy2Use).
• Promotion of efficiency and value chain: the Clúster de l’Energia Eficient de Catalunya (CEEC) defines itself as a non-profit entity that promotes energy efficiency and collaboration among companies, research centers, institutions, and administrations, acting as a reference in energy transition in Catalonia (CEEC and Aliança Catalunya 2030).

Relationship with autonomous communities and territorial strategy

Clusters are usually formally integrated into autonomous energy transition strategies, giving them the capacity to co-design territorial priorities:

• The Generalitat Valenciana adheres to the Renewable Hydrogen Valleys Alliance, conceived as a collaboration network to promote the hydrogen value chain and strengthen dialogue with state and European institutions (adhesion to the Alliance). This adhesion is part of its own green hydrogen strategy based on public-private collaboration to attract industrial investments (Valencian green H₂ strategy).
• In Catalonia, the incorporation of CEEC into the Aliança Catalunya 2030 positions it as a stable partner of the Govern in the sustainable development and energy transition agenda, reinforcing its coordination role between the business fabric and administration (Aliança Catalunya 2030).
• Red Eléctrica highlights the Driving Group for Energy Transition, a collaborative network that has involved more than 500 municipalities and 300 entities in regional transition strategies, with 4.5 million euros allocated to territorial plans and community energy projects, reflecting the role of sector platforms in joint territorial planning (Driving Group).

Relationship with municipalities and territorial integration

At the local level, key functions revolve around social license and deployment planning:

• The Joint Declaration of the wind sector and municipalities includes five principles: respectful integration with social, economic, and environmental reality; shared benefits; co-responsibility between companies and administrations; continuous dialogue and transparency; and good environmental and landscape practices. It is a voluntary framework promoted by the Wind Energy Business Association and more than 45 organizations, illustrating how the sector commits to working with municipalities on employment plans, tax revenues, infrastructure, and coexistence with other land uses (Wind and municipalities declaration).
• In Euskadi, the “Vitoria 30 kV” Wind Cluster project is processed as a joint action affecting several municipalities (Alegría-Dulantzi, Iruraiz-Gauna, San Millán, Barrundia, Elburgo, Arratzua-Ubarrundia, and Vitoria-Gasteiz). The public information announcement details shared infrastructures and administrative coordination, reflecting the need for technical and territorial agreement among promoters, the Basque Government, and local corporations (wind cluster announcement).
• The first wind farm promoted by the Basque Government and Iberdrola in 20 years is accompanied by commitments to local returns (taxes, fees, possible energy price reductions, improvements in social facilities), which fits with the shared value approach that sectoral clusters promote in their relations with municipalities (wind farm in Euskadi).

Additionally, related figures such as energy communities —often promoted or accompanied by clusters and regional agencies— directly link citizens, SMEs, and local authorities in self-consumption and renewable projects, reinforcing territorial integration. The Generalitat Valenciana, for example, defines these communities as entities controlled by their members, close to the projects and formed by individuals, SMEs, or local authorities (Ivace+i and energy communities).

Overall, sectoral clusters in energy and renewables in Spain concentrate coordination competencies, integrated project design, fund attraction, and territorial mediation, acting as a hinge between companies, autonomous communities, and municipalities so that the energy transition translates into employment, industry, and territorial cohesion.

More references and additional context can be found, among others, in the following analyses and news from Demócrata and other institutions: Shyne and renewable hydrogen, renewables and territorial integration in Granada, energy communities and territorial deployment, institutional risk in renewable projects, clusters and innovation ecosystems, and cross-border alliances for decarbonization, among others.

A biogas plant in Catalonia must simultaneously comply with environmental authorization, waste management, industrial safety, energy, and urban planning requirements. The main framework in Catalonia is Law 20/2009, on prevention and environmental control of activities, and Decret legislatiu 1/2009, on waste, complemented by Decret 192/2023 on industrial safety. At the state level, among others, the Basic Law on Industrial Emissions, the Waste Law, and regulations on renewable gases and biomethane apply. Below I summarize the key blocks a company must consider to obtain authorization for its biogas installations.

1. Environmental authorization in Catalonia

The central axis is the Law 20/2009 on prevention and environmental control of activities (version in BOE). This law establishes different intervention regimes:

• Environmental authorization or substantive authorization with environmental impact assessment (Titles II and annexes): applicable to activities with high environmental impact. Many biogas plants (waste treatment, large agro-livestock or with cogeneration) usually fall under these annexes.
• Municipal environmental license for lower impact activities (Title III).
• Communication regime in residual cases of very low impact (Title IV).

The law integrates the environmental impact assessment of projects into the environmental authorization procedure itself, coordinating with basic state legislation (Law 21/2013, modified by Law 9/2018).

2. Waste and anaerobic digestion

If the plant treats waste (agricultural, livestock, industrial, urban, or sludge), Decret legislatiu 1/2009, Consolidated text of the Waste Law applies in Catalonia, which regulates:

• Authorization regimes for waste management activities and the distribution of competencies between the Generalitat and municipalities.
• Management routes (recovery and disposal of rejects) and the need for controlled management.

This regulation is complemented by Decret 152/2017 on classification, coding, and management routes of waste, Decret 93/1999 on waste management procedures, and sectoral planning (for example, the municipal waste program PROGREMIC approved by Decret 87/2010 and PRECAT20 approved at the state level by Royal Decree 210/2018).

At the state level, Law 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soils for a circular economy applies, which sets the waste hierarchy, obligations of producers and managers, and strengthens traceability. For landfills and final disposal, Royal Decree 646/2020 on landfill deposit is relevant. When animal by-products (manure, slurry, meat by-products) are used, Royal Decree 1528/2012 must also be considered.

3. Industrial emissions (IPPC) and atmosphere

For installations included in IPPC regulations, environmental authorization in Catalonia must adapt to basic state legislation contained in Royal Legislative Decree 1/2016 (consolidated text of the Law on integrated pollution prevention and control) and its regulatory development, Royal Decree 815/2013 (Industrial Emissions Regulation). These laws require:

• Authorizing the installation based on the best available techniques.
• Setting emission limit values and control and monitoring systems.

In atmospheric matters, Royal Decree 100/2011 also applies, updating the catalog of potentially polluting activities.

4. Industrial safety of the plant

In Catalonia, the safety of industrial establishments and installations is governed by Decret 192/2023 on industrial safety of establishments, installations, and products, which implements Law 9/2014 on industrial safety and articulates:

• Regimes of communication, responsible declaration, or authorization of technical installations.
• Registry of technical installations and obligations of maintenance, inspection, and incident communication.

This decree applies complementarily to state technical regulations issued under the Industrial Emissions Law and the state Industry Law (Law 21/1992, cited in the preamble of Decret 192/2023), which set conditions for pressure vessels, electrical installations, ATEX, etc.

5. Energy regime and renewable gases

If the plant produces electricity from biogas, it must process its energy and connection authorization according to Royal Decree 413/2014, which regulates electricity production from renewables, cogeneration, and waste. For biogas projects purified to biomethane and injected into the grid, the following are essential:

• Royal Decree 376/2022, which regulates sustainability criteria and the guarantees of origin system for renewable gases.
• Order TED/1026/2022, which approves the management procedure of said guarantees system.
• Determinations on the natural gas main grid set by Order IET/2434/2012.

Catalonia has promoted specific aid for biogas and biomethane (for example, Order ACC/250/2023 for biogas and digestate plants and Order ACC/75/2024 for biogas purification and biomethane injection), which do not create additional authorization requirements but do impose technical and administrative conditions to access subsidies.

6. Urban planning, plans, and other requirements

Besides the above, any project must comply with municipal urban planning and, if applicable, the environmental assessment of plans provided in Law 6/2009 on environmental assessment of plans and programs in Catalonia (partially amended). It also coordinates with Catalan regulations promoting economic activity (Law 9/2011) and with sectoral planning instruments such as PINFRECAT20 for waste infrastructures.

In summary, obtaining authorization for a biogas plant in Catalonia requires designing the project aligned with Law 20/2009 (environmental regime), Decret legislatiu 1/2009 (waste), Decret 192/2023 (industrial safety), and state laws on emissions, waste, and renewable gases. On that basis, the company must process the corresponding environmental authorization or license before the Generalitat and the municipality, the energy authorization (if producing electricity or injecting biomethane), and register and legalize all associated industrial installations.