Agro-energy districts contributing to environmental and social sustainability in rural areas: Evaluation of a local public–private partnership scheme in Greece

The current economic downturn has put public budgets under pressure, reducing investments and revenues for local stakeholders to cope, among other things, with contemporary demands of environmental protection. Local-based partnerships may provide an efficient tool by adopting, integrating and implementing actions based on awareness and participation of a set of different players. This need is even more evident in rural areas in which a proposed decentralized bio-energy production model established in Agro-energy districtscan provide incentive and create a comfortable ground for the development of an energy production plant based on a mixed public-private partnership. Drawing on the implementation of a European co-funded research project the paper presents the efforts being made to build a partnership at a local level in order to cover the lack of an institutional plan and public investment for handling biomass production. Our aim is not primarily to present the best technical solution to bio-energy production but rather to illustrate the networking between different players, the public consultation, and the agreements being made under the form of Public Private Partnerships, as well as the levels of commitment and the risks taken. The gist of this study is that despite the civic engagements the inconsistent administrative environment, the dominance of the public sector and the State intervention through legislation and different political decisions, makes it still difficult for local partnerships to exercise their power and turn from government to governance in order to cope with the environmental challenges and tackle inequalities faced in rural areas.