Increasingly the climate change agenda influences the work of Sustainable Energy combining it with energy and resource management. A fundamental principle of Sustainable Energy’s work for a sustainable society in Denmark as well as abroad is that this cannot be achieved by only applying a set of appropriate technological innovations. The transformation towards societies based on renewable energy sources must be built around local democracy processes, deep rooted community ownership and a strong public participation. Our points of departure when engaging with international development assistance are found within the environment and renewable energy sectors. Within these two sectors on-going climate changes and their impacts on already vulnerable communities and local authorities will form the back-drop of all programming and used as a leverage to work with local governance and democracy challenges