Transforming energy systems is central to addressing climate change. This transformation goes far beyond the deployment of new technologies: it involves fundamental changes in infrastructure, materials and resource use, markets, behaviour, governance and international cooperation. SEVEN approaches the future of energy as a systemic challenge, shaped by interactions between technological innovation, social practices, economic structures, regulation and questions of justice and security. 

Within this theme, SEVEN conducts interdisciplinary research on how energy systems can be transformed in ways that are technically feasible, socially acceptable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

A key line of research focuses on the development and integration of new energy carriers and production pathways, including green hydrogen and advanced bio-based and synthetic fuels. SEVEN examines under what conditions such technologies can meaningfully contribute to decarbonisation, how they interact with existing energy and industrial systems, and what governance, infrastructural and market arrangements are required for their responsible deployment. 

At the same time, SEVEN studies the broader systemic conditions of energy transitions. This includes research on circular energy–material systems and waste valorisation, behavioural drivers of sustainable energy use, policy instruments and regulatory frameworks, and emerging challenges such as knowledge security in international green-technology research. Across these domains, SEVEN pays close attention to questions of fairness, distribution of costs and benefits, and societal acceptance. 

By combining systems analysis with close collaboration between researchers, policymakers, industry partners and societal actors, SEVEN develops knowledge and interventions that address not only individual technologies, but the structural conditions that shape how energy transitions unfold in practice. 

The projects below illustrate how SEVEN’s work on the future of energy takes shape in concrete research on energy systems transformation, ranging from green hydrogen and circular energy pathways to behaviour, governance and security.