Narrative futures and the governance of energy transitions

•Narrative strategies help build capacity for governing complex energy transitions.•Storytelling opens energy deliberation and scenario creation to diverse publics.•Narrative strengthens consideration of human dimensions of energy systems.•Methods for eliciting and deliberating multiple energy narratives are significant.

Today's societies confront an enormous challenge with regard to governing complex energy systems change. We argue that futures approaches based on narrative strategies that encourage individual and collective storytelling and meaning construction offer a valuable tool for enhancing societal capacity to meet this and similar governance challenges. We report on a two-day scenario planning exercise that sought to implement and test these ideas. The exercise involved a diverse group of professionals in both energy and non-energy fields, with a question focused on the narrative construction and deliberation of scenarios about Arizona's energy future in 2050.