What environmental psychology can do for the energy transition
The start-up AVALY from the future location SOUTH WEST makes acceptance measurable and provides recommendations for better local participation
Acceptance is not a fringe issue of the energy transition but a major work in progress. The startup AVALY even describes it as a central obstacle to the expansion of renewable energies.
When people talk about the energy transition, the focus is often on technology, land, and permits—much less often on the people who have to live with these projects. This is where environmental psychology comes in: a field that examines the interplay between the environment and human behaviour. Right now, it is more important than ever. Several major transformations are running in parallel in this moment: heat, energy, mobility. Many people feel overwhelmed by this, says AVALY co-founder Sophie Apel. Environmental psychology expertise can help make these processes clearer, fairer, and ultimately more successful. Not just in research, but in practice, within NGOs, campaigns, or specific infrastructure projects, for instance.
Apel’s classic path into this field lead through academia: She studied psychology and later specialised. For a long time, you had to go elsewhere to study environmental psychology. Meanwhile, German universities offer courses as well. People are motivated to do so by similar insights: We are in the midst of a climate crisis, but information alone is not enough to produce change.
Research confirms this. People do not change their behaviour simply because they have better information. Habits, identity, social norms, and values play an enormous role. “If you’re after lasting change, you have to take these layers into consideration. There is no simple answer to how people can be ‘brought onboard’,” says Apel. However, understanding these connections is a vital first step.
This insight ultimately led to the creation of her company. The specific trigger was a solar project in a municipality where resistance grew not from fundamental opposition, but from a poorly managed participation process. The information people received was late and one-dimensional. From an environmental psychology perspective, this is a classic mistake. Her idea then was to translate this knowledge into practical application—systematically.
As a spin-off from Freie Universität Berlin, AVALY GmbH now targets project developers in the renewable energy sector. The core mission: to identify early on what is needed to garner acceptance in a particular region, what issues move the local population, and how communication and participation can be made to match that. This involves analysing entire regions, examining social milieus, and pinpointing the specific themes that drive local acceptance. The goal is not to convince hardliners, but to engage the large group of those who are currently neutral.
Analysis is a central lever here—and this is where AI comes into play. These things had to be laboriously research as yet. Now election results, previous community action groups, council resolutions, press reports, petitions, and academic acceptance studies now come as a package. The data are aggregated and fed into machine-learning models. This saves time, increases the completeness of the database, and highlights patterns that humans would struggle to spot alone. Context is crucial here. The software is not designed to replace conversations. For projects that fundamentally reshape a local landscape, a face-to-face exchange on the ground is key for building trust. “Digital tools,” says Apel, “can support, prepare, and make risks visible—but they cannot replace the exchange on the ground. However, blind spots might also occur where everything is done offline.”
The AVALY analysis itself should remain as objective as possible, she adds. Any partisanship is limited to the principle of the energy transition itself—but with social backing. Projects decided over people's heads not only jeopardise acceptance but also, in the long term, democratic processes.
AVALY was founded in early 2025, following an extended preliminary phase in which the idea, model, and funding logic could mature. Today, a small team is working to further validate the models, integrate new data, and develop the service so that analysis and concrete recommendations for action are even more closely aligned.
Their vision is clear. If acceptance is no longer left to chance but is considered from the start, projects can be implemented faster, more fairly, and more sustainably—for companies, municipalities, and local residents alike.
Rico Bigelmann for Potenzial