The 14th edition of the Coop Colloquium, convened on 18 July 2025, brought together academics, practitioners, cooperative leaders, and youth representatives from across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond to explore how rural energy cooperatives can lead the way in building a zero-carbon, people-centred energy future. Organized by the ICA Asia-Pacific Committee on Cooperative Research (CCR) in collaboration with RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute), the session centred around a recent global study titled “Toward a Shared Zero-Carbon Energy Future: A Global Analysis of Rural Energy Cooperatives.”

This landmark study by RMI, presented by Ms. Yihan Hao and Dr. Jun Li, makes a compelling case for rural energy cooperatives as inclusive and effective models for expanding energy access, alleviating poverty, and promoting environmental sustainability, particularly in developing countries. According to the report, despite a 45% global reduction in energy poverty since 2010, approximately 760 million people still lack access to electricity, and 2.4 billion people rely on polluting fuels for cooking. The vast majority live in rural areas of the Global South, where energy access remains both a development and equity challenge.

The colloquium began with a introduction to the session’s theme and speakers, followed by opening remarks from Prof. Yashavantha Dongre, who emphasized the relevance of cooperative models in achieving just energy transitions. Drawing from the study, Ms. Yihan explained how rural energy cooperatives differ from top-down energy solutions by embedding community ownership, local decision-making, and equitable benefit-sharing into their governance structures. She highlighted that cooperatives are especially well-suited to managing decentralized renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, and biomass—often in contexts where centralized infrastructure is lacking or insufficient.

Case studies from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Japan illustrated how policy incentives, such as feed-in tariffs (FITs), tax exemptions, and guaranteed grid access, have helped these countries build thriving ecosystems of energy cooperatives. For instance, Germany now hosts over 950 energy cooperatives with more than 220,000 members, contributing significantly to the country’s renewable energy generation. Similarly, in Denmark, energy cooperatives own over 23% of the country’s wind power capacity, while the Netherlands has over 700 citizen-led energy cooperatives.

In contrast, many countries in Asia and Africa are still in the early stages of exploring cooperative-led energy models. Jun Li shared that in Bangladesh, 85% of townships rely on energy cooperatives, while Bolivia is home to the world’s largest rural electric cooperative. However, in countries like China and India, while there is growing interest in distributed renewable energy, cooperative models remain relatively underdeveloped. The study emphasized that this gap presents both a challenge and an opportunity—especially for rural revitalization efforts in the Asia-Pacific.

The discussion highlighted that rural energy cooperatives can operate across the energy value chain, including generation, distribution, supply, and ancillary services like heating and energy efficiency consulting. They also offer diverse revenue streams—ranging from the sale of energy and green certificates to government subsidies and community bonds—making them financially adaptable to different contexts. In China, recent regulatory reforms have begun to allow village collectives and cooperatives to own and operate energy assets beyond agriculture, signaling a shift toward more participatory and locally anchored models.

A key theme that emerged was the importance of organizational capacity. As Dr. Sidsel Grimstad noted, while the technology for decentralized energy systems is advancing rapidly, many rural cooperatives lack the institutional and managerial strength to implement and sustain complex energy systems. This calls for long-term investment in capacity-building, youth engagement, and cooperative education. The RMI report also underlined the role of digital innovation, such as smart grids, peer-to-peer energy trading, and blockchain platforms, in enabling cooperatives to participate in modern energy markets.

During the open forum, participants discussed policy enablers and barriers in their own contexts. Questions were raised about the scalability of cooperatives in grid-dense countries, the role of state actors, and the potential for hybrid cooperative models that bring together public, private, and community stakeholders. Balu Iyer, ICA-AP Regional Director, encouraged participants to identify areas for further research and pilot initiatives, particularly in collaboration with agricultural cooperatives, youth groups, and technology partners.

The colloquium concluded with a strong sense of purpose and momentum. It reaffirmed the view that cooperatives are not only viable actors in the energy transition, but they are also essential. They democratize energy access, retain value within communities, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and build the kind of social cohesion that centralized systems often overlook.

In a world increasingly shaped by climate disruptions and energy inequities, rural energy cooperatives offer a proven, adaptable, and inclusive pathway toward a more sustainable and just future. The Coop Colloquium continues to serve as a valuable space for sharing knowledge, connecting across borders, and advancing the cooperative movement’s role in building that future.