The global pandemic has led to massive reductions in mobility worldwide. Post-lockdown travel is characterised by several restrictions still in place and an emerging upheaval in individual behaviour. Long-distance travel loses attractiveness, professional meetings are increasingly held online and holiday destinations in closer proximity become more appealing. To the mobility sector, this poses a considerable challenge, as it might need to readjust profoundly. Several cities see a window of opportunity for the mobility transition to finally gain momentum, and some, such as Brussels, Paris or Berlin, have already started to implement new concepts. For example, temporary bike lanes have been installed as part of an ambitious bike promotion strategy. Additionally, sustainability and green transformation efforts need to be accounted for: If we take climate protection seriously, then we need to fundamentally transform the transport sector. Until now, battery-powered electric vehicles have been among the most promising technologies, especially since batteries are expected to become cheaper and more powerful in the future. In the longer term, electric vehicles based on fuel cells and powered by green hydrogen will also have their place, at least in segments where battery storage is not manageable, such as long-haul aircraft and overseas ships. However, electrification only makes sense if renewable energies are available.

They are decentralised gained and at the same time fluctuate. In order to reach a balance between demand and supply of renewables, all consumption sectors - electricity, heat and transport - are increasingly coupled with each other in order to create flexibility in the overall system. This idea stands behind the technical concept of sector coupling.

The first aspect of the Special Issue concerns the question of which new forms of regulation and governance of the transport system are currently being developed or are already emerging in contours.

The second aspect of the Special Issue concerns the question of how a transformation of the transport sector is also a social question: a changed mobility requires the willingness of the population and is closely linked to living habits, individual attitudes and the structures of everyday life.

From a scientific perspective, a distinction can be made between individual and collective action: the change in traffic as a direct burden on the individual and as a task for society, which depends on consensus and legitimacy. The scientific debate often focuses on poverty and justice, on costs and consumption, and solutions for cities, communities and neighbourhoods. In particular, the distributional justice is emphasized, whereby the procedural dimension should not be ignored: Numerous studies show that not all parts of the population are equally represented in discursive participatory processes in the context of the development of new mobility concepts.

Most of the contributions are based on conference papers that have been submitted for the international conference "Energy Futures – Emerging Pathways in an Uncertain World?" by the Leibniz Research Alliance on Energy Transitions from the 22nd to the 26thof February 2021, which was originally supposed to take place at the WZB, but because of the Corona pandemic was held exclusively digitally. The list of papers has been supplemented by contributions given at the DVPW conference "Renaissance der Verkehrspolitik". This conference also took place digitally on the 18th and 19th of February 2021.

The 5th ESEIA International Conference “Towards Climate Neutral Energy Communities” took place from the 2^nd to the 3rd of November 2022 at The Cyprus Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus. 74 participants and 49 organisations, of which 11 were ESEIA members, took part in the event.

During the two-day hybrid conference, participants from 18 countries, mainly from the European Union but also from Australia and Turkey, had the opportunity to discuss the importance of successfully achieving climate neutrality.

From addressing the climate change impact on energy needs and sources to building climate-neutral communities through innovation, a wide range of topics were covered by speakers and panellists, giving place to thought-provoking discussions and rich networking opportunities among all the attendees.

In the end, the participants agreed that a transformative change is needed to mitigate energy intensity and carbon footprint and reduce vulnerability to climate change.

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have carefully read the submission guidelines for Energy, Sustainability and Society. The complete manuscript should be submitted through the Energy, Sustainability and Society submission system. To ensure that you submit to the correct thematic series please select the appropriate thematic series in the drop-down menu upon submission. In addition, indicate within your cover letter that you wish your manuscript to be considered as part of the thematic series 'Towards Climate Neutral Energy Communities'.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.

Submissions will also benefit from the usual advantages of open access publication:

Rapid publication: Online submission, electronic peer review and production make the process of publishing your article simple and efficient

High visibility and international readership in your field: Open access publication ensures high visibility and maximum exposure for your work - anyone with online access can read your article

No space constraints: Publishing online means unlimited space for figures, extensive data and video footage

Authors retain copyright, licensing the article under a Creative Commons license: articles can be freely redistributed and reused as long as the article is correctly attributed

For editorial enquiries please contact editorial@energsustainsoc.com.

Sign up for article alerts to keep updated on articles published in Energy, Sustainability and Society - including articles published in this thematic series!