This week we wrapped up two major milestones in the PANTHEON project: the Scoping Workshops held in China and the European Union. These sessions became more than a space for gathering perspectives — they served as a unique meeting point where Chinese and European visions of a post-transition world confronted, complemented, and challenged one another.

The result? A set of insights as diverse as they are inspiring — and sometimes surprisingly aligned.

And this is only the beginning.

What Happened During the Workshops?

Over several intensive sessions, we explored:

• long-term visions of post-transition futures,
• concrete actions that would need to occur for those visions to become reality,
• the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in shaping energy transitions,
• and the social, institutional, and political conditions that enable or obstruct transformative change.

The two-track structure (China + EU) allowed us to see contrasts that single-region discussions simply cannot reveal.

We observed overlaps in expectations, divergences rooted in governance cultures, and emerging priorities shaped by local realities.

The Biggest Challenge Still Lies Ahead

While the workshops generated a rich collection of qualitative material, the real challenge begins now.

We face the classic trans- and interdisciplinary problem:

👉 How do we translate visions, narratives, expectations, concerns, and recommended actions into the mathematical language of models and scenarios?

Turning stories into variables, concerns into parameters, and stakeholder visions into scenario logic can feel like an academic form of alchemy.

But — fortunately — we do have a plan.

Next Step: A Broader Stakeholder Survey

Next week we are launching a large-scale stakeholder survey designed to complement the workshop results with broader, more diverse data. This will help us identify trends, validate emerging insights, and refine the scenario-building process.

Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to:

• Prof. Aleksandra Wagner
• Dr. Nuccio Ludovico
• Arkadiusz Szlaga
• Dr Tadeusz Rudek

for leading the sessions — including those in the Chinese time zone, where digital jet lag becomes a real phenomenon. None of this would have been possible without your commitment, flexibility, and patience