The decarbonisation of multi-family buildings is crucial for Europe's energy transition, yet the role of collective forms of housing governance in this process remains poorly understood. This paper examines how institutional dynamics shape energy investments in Poland and Czechia, two countries with distinct post-socialist housing transformation patterns. Using institutional theory and 61 semi-structured interviews with policymakers and cooperative representatives, we demonstrate that housing cooperatives are structurally positioned to adopt renewable energy technologies primarily as top-down, techno-economic projects aimed at reducing costs. These initiatives rarely develop into participatory or resident-driven models. The potential for collective energy action is further constrained by financial, managerial, and regulatory barriers, as well as the erosion of community structures under ongoing socio-demographic changes. Where energy transition occurs, it tends to follow a centralised, efficiency-driven logic that restricts deeper resident engagement. Experiences with more advanced prosumer solutions illustrate the difficulties of translating both top-down and individually oriented frameworks into cooperative settings shaped by distinct legal, organisational, and cultural conditions. By integrating institutional theory with cooperative studies, the paper shows how path-dependent governance and conflicting logics limit bottom-up energy initiatives in multi-family housing. These findings raise critical questions about the prospects of energy communities within housing cooperatives under current socio-regulatory conditions, highlighting structural barriers that must be addressed if housing cooperatives and similar forms of collective housing are to play a meaningful role in Europe's emerging energy community frameworks, as well as in the residential energy transition in general.
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