6 How Stakeholder Engagement Shaped the Scenarios //

Engaging stakeholders in developing TYNDP scenarios is based on three core principles: transparency, inclusiveness and efficiency. Transparency ensures that the complex process of developing long‑term energy demand and supply scenarios is clearly communicated. ENTSO‑E and ENTSOG aim to provide transparency on all assumptions and make underlying data openly accessible, so that scenarios can be plausibly replicated by third parties. Inclusiveness reflects the importance of ensuring that TYNDP Scenarios represent the general opinions of EU citizens.

Any organisation or individual can contribute through multiple fully public stakeholder events and written consultations. Continuous interaction with stakeholders ensures that the most up‑to‑date data, technologies, and real‑world experiences are integrated into the Scenarios by timely implementing stakeholder input.

Stakeholder engagement played a central role in shaping the TYNDP 2026 Scenarios by informing about every major step of the scenario‑building process (Figure 2). At the beginning of the TYNDP 2026 Scenarios cycle, stakeholders were asked to provide information and preferences on interactions between the ENTSOs and public, thus co-designing the Stakeholder Engagement Plan¹. During the framework (storyline) development, the SRG and wider stakeholders influenced the framing of uncertainties, key parameters, and Economic Variants. Inputs from workshops in 2024, 2025 and public consultations in June to July 2025 guided which elements were prioritised in HEV / LEV and how methodologies followed ACER’s Scenarios Framework Guidelines. For the Innovation Roadmap, stakeholders, especially the SRG, proposed innovations and provided feedback that shaped which items were included, refined, or postponed.

This iterative feedback loop directly informed both the initial roadmap and planned updates in 2026. In the development of data, methodologies, parameters and assumptions, stakeholder engagement influenced modelling choices (e. g., electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid heat pumps (HHPs), H₂/synfuel systems), cost assumptions, commodity prices, and country‑level datasets. SRG reviews helped identify outliers, refine gap-filling approaches, and improve the carbon‑budget methodology. Finally, through the public consultations and SRG reviews, stakeholders shaped the draft scenarios by providing inputs on assumptions, methodologies, and scenario design. Their feedback informed revisions ahead of the final Central Scenario and Economic Variants.

Further information on the involvement of stakeholders throughout the TYNDP 2026 scenario-building process can be found available on the TYNDP 2026 Scenarios’ introduction and download websites, in the TYNDP 2026 Scenarios Stakeholder Engagement Plan², the Stakeholder Engagement Timeline, consultations material and accompanying workshop recordings, as well as the Consultations Summary Report.

During the 2026 development cycle, the ENTSOs took feedback and learnings from the public consultations and SRG onboard when developing the next version of the Central Scenario and Economic Variants.

A distinct listing of considerations on the public consultations can be found in Chapter 5 “Summary of responses by question and ENTSOs” comments’ of the TYNDP 2026 Scenarios Public Consultations Summary Report. The main learnings and considerations in the 2026 cycle have been summarised below.

Stakeholders rated the Innovation Roadmap a moderate level of satisfaction. Some respondents acknowledged the value of the current Innovation Roadmap, especially its future orientation and flexibility. However, they also identified several opportunities for improving how innovations are prioritised within the TYNDP 2026 planning cycle.

The feedback confirms that the Innovation Roadmap largely meets stakeholder expectations, particularly regarding the emphasis on future climate variability, system integration and transparency, although there is room for improvement.

There is a need to address the following points in the future:

As a result, the Innovation Roadmap is updated to generate a more transparent, answerable and enforceable document. The second edition will be particularly relevant for the 2028 cycle and will be readily published at the start of the next development cycle. Chapter 8 details how the Innovation Roadmap was implemented in this cycle.

Stakeholders raised several points regarding the transparency and robustness of key supply assumptions, including:

As a response, the ENTSOs voiced commitment to increase transparency, improving documentation of assumptions and increasing alignment with external data sources where relevant, while maintaining consistency with the methodological framework.

Stakeholders’ feedback on modelling approaches focused on:

ENTSOs acknowledged these points and implemented or initiated improvements in modelling approaches, data structures and methodological documentation, including stronger integration of flexibility and enhanced explanation of modelling choices.

Stakeholders generally welcomed the introduction of Economic Variants in line with ACER framework, while requesting:

As a result, the ENTSOs clarified the role of the variants and committed to providing more explicit documentation of parameter changes and their effects on scenario outcomes.

Feedback also addressed the composition and functioning of the stakeholder engagement process itself. In particular, stakeholders highlighted the importance of maintaining a balanced mix of perspectives across all relevant sectors, including strengthening the involvement of demand-side actors and exploring greater participation of Member States in the Stakeholder Reference Group (SRG), including as observers where appropriate.

Stakeholders also emphasised the need to further enhance transparency and accessibility of data, tools and processes, especially for organisations that are not directly represented in the SRG. ENTSO‑E and ENTSOG have strengthened their approach to data and process transparency by providing consolidated access to scenario material through dedicated platforms, including all draft methodologies and input data, workshop recordings, stakeholder engagement content, Innovation Roadmap and visualisation platform of all final data.

Approaching public consultation phases continue to be publicly communicated via ENTSO-E’s and ENTSOG’s media platforms, including their websites, newsletters or LinkedIn.

Additional efforts have been made to improve the accessibility and usability of data, including the development of a centralised results platform with enhanced visualisation and data-tailoring functionalities. This allows stakeholders with different levels of expertise to better understand scenario inputs and results, and facilitates a more transparent interpretation of key elements such as the carbon budget and system-wide outcomes.

Overall, engagement was continuous, multi‑channel and iterative. We would like to thank all stakeholders who participated in this cycle’s online public consultations, workshops or roundtables, in the SRG or bilateral discussions.

One important contributor throughout the TYNDP 2026 Scenarios building process was the SRG that gave valuable input on the TYNDP Scenarios Innovation Roadmap, draft gap-filling methodology, draft commodity prices, and actively shaped the Central Scenario and Economic Variants to be more robust and accountable.

In general, the SRG aims at providing expert input to the development of scenarios and operates independently from ENTSO-E and ENTSOG. The SRG’s Terms of Reference approved by the SRG, written advice, list of members, possibility to apply and minutes of meetings are available on the Stakeholder Reference Group website. Details on how the SRG delivered to provide feedback on the various topics covered throughout the Scenarios development process can be found in the SRG’s dedicated opinion in Annex V.