Result

Outlook Energy System 2050: visualizing the energy transition

From expert knowledge to a shared perspective

Thomas van Daalen

The challenge: not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of a shared vision for the future

The energy transition isn’t stalling because we don’t know enough. On the contrary: the knowledge is there, the technology is available, and the intentions are strong. What’s missing is a shared future outlook that can guide the decisions we need to make for 2050. Policymakers, companies, and research institutions all work hard on reports, scenarios, and plans – but often in parallel, based on different assumptions and priorities. The result: fragmentation.

RVO, TNO, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy decided to change that. They brought together ten experts from the field with one goal: to create clarity and work toward a shared perspective that offers guidance, an Energy System Outlook 2050. Flatland was asked to facilitate this process and use the power of visualization to accelerate progress.

10 experts

5 months

1 vision of the future

Our approach: co-creation as the path to a shared story

Ten experts, each with their own background, language, and priorities -from energy specialists to business strategists, from economists to social scientists. All with valuable knowledge, but each with their own vision of what is needed toward 2050. In a series of co-creation sessions, we worked with them to draw the future together.

We began with individual conversations with each expert. Every discussion resulted in a unique visualization that helped structure the content, reveal key patterns, and deepen the dialogue. In several phases, we moved from fragmented knowledge to shared insights.

The power of visual thinking lies in making assumptions, differences, and connections visible. By rendering abstract and complex scenarios tangible, you create space in which similarities and differences can be discussed openly and directly. The sessions helped find shared language, spark debate, and make choices. Where separate reports and opinions once stood next to each other, a shared story began to emerge—literally on paper.

By testing the visuals with policymakers and stakeholders, we gained valuable feedback: Does this connect to your reality? Can you use this to have meaningful conversations?
The final visual provided just the right amount of space: abstract enough to hold multiple perspectives, yet concrete enough to drive focused discussion. The result was a set of visualizations that are not only informative, but activating — enabling collaboration.

This is what it looks like

The result: one shared future outlook as a compass

The visualizations made the future of the energy system tangible and open for discussion. They provided guidance in a complex landscape and formed the foundation for continued collaboration. The drawings were concrete enough to clarify the shared narrative, yet abstract enough for experts to work with from within their own fields of expertise.

In the meantime, the Energy System Outlook 2050 has been further developed into the National Energy System Plan (NPE) and is now being connected to regional and local energy visions and plans (RES, CES and pMIEK).

What makes this project truly special is the way experts from different domains — from policy to practice — were given space to share their insights. People really listened. That sense of involvement, and the willingness to collaborate on something larger than individual interests, shows how essential subject-matter expertise is in shaping policy. Public–private collaboration is where the real key lies: it’s where system thinking and implementation come together.

This project highlights how important it is to keep building societal transitions together — across roles, sectors, and interests. Not from a single truth, but from shared understanding and a common direction.