Providing heat is a key aspect of social life and a necessity for comfort and health in cold climates. Even though heat accounts for a large proportion of worldwide carbon emissions and is the largest energy end-use, it has remained largely untouched by efforts to decarbonize. Efforts to do so meet significant economic, social-psychological, technical and political challenges. Much is at stake. But what can make a difference? One increasingly discussed potential solution is co-creation. It provides spaces for citizens to share what heating means to them and for stakeholders to build these insights into their programmes for change. However, while local authorities, grassroots, and community organisations are already implementing co-creation with homeowners and groups of citizens, there is a dearth of academic research focusing on the value of co-creating sustainable heating transitions. This indicates a lack of evidence on how these new forms of collaboration perform under which conditions and how they are embedded in the policy cycle. Drawing on European sustainable heating case studies where co-creation has been applied, we outline future areas where critical, engaged research could help us to understand how to unlock sustainable heating transitions.

提供热量是社交生活的关键方面，也是在寒冷气候下保持舒适和健康的必要条件。尽管热量在全球碳排放量中占很大比例，并且是最大的能源最终用途，但在很大程度上仍未受到脱碳努力的影响。这样做的努力面临着重大的经济，社会心理，技术和政治挑战。很多事情危在旦夕。但是，有什么可以改变的呢？越来越多的潜在解决方案是共创。它为公民提供了分享热量对他们意味着什么的空间，并为利益相关者提供了将这些见解纳入其变革计划的空间。但是，尽管地方当局，基层和社区组织已经在与房主和公民团体实施联合创作，缺乏关于共同创造可持续供热过渡的价值的学术研究。这表明缺乏关于这些新形式的协作在何种条件下如何执行以及如何将其嵌入策略周期的证据。借助应用共创的欧洲可持续供热案例研究，我们概述了未来关键的，参与的研究可以帮助我们了解如何实现可持续供热转型的领域。