Renewable Energy in Sustainable Smart Cities

The issues related to the environmental sustainability of development are characterized by a broad and cross-cutting consensus on the centrality and urgency of mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and the reduction of pollution and consumption of environmental resources, particularly after the UN 2030 Agenda and the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. We are witnessing a gradual process of conversion of energy production and exchange systems from centralised models to decentralised models. This transition has led to the emergence of new legal entities such as the prosumer (consumer-producer) and citizens’ energy communities. By recognizing the role of the energy consumer as an “actor” rather than a “passive spectator” in this transformation, we address the issue of sustainable smart cities where new legal forms of energy production and exchange serve as their infrastructures. Although the latter are still being tested especially in terms of data protection and the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), they appear to be the necessary sustainable evolution of urban realities.