Parallel Session 6:
Friday 9 June, 09:00 - 11:00
Grupperom 7, Georg Sverdrups hus
Liste, Lucia (NTNU Social Research): Enacting Energy Citizenship in Social Media
Solbu, Gisle and Heidenreich, Sara (NTNU): Invisible sustainability work? Moving towards a just energy citizenship in sustainability transitions
Arntsen, Kim-André; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe and Heidenreich, Sara (NTNU): Power to the people? How different owners of renewables envision a just transition and the role of citizens in Norwegian energy transition.
Datava, Zane (NTNU): Extracting North: The Repparfjord Case
Tarasova, Ekaterina (Södertörn University): Just transition for whom? The case of coal phase-out in Poland
Hannah Charles; Bouzarovski, Stefan; Bellamy, Rob, The University of Manchester; Gormally, Alexandra, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University; and Schultz, Anton, One Manchester: Residualisation and household energy demand in social housing: emergent research agendas
Discussion: Embracing the uncomfortable
Abstracts
Power to the people? How different owners of renewables envision a just transition and the role of citizens in Norwegian energy transition.
by Arntsen, Kim-André Myhre; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe; and Heidenreich, Sara (NTNU)
This paper engages with discussion about the role of citizens and justice in the Norwegian energy transition from the perspective of energy producers in Norway. Historically speaking, large-scale renewable energy production has been crucial for Norwegian development. In newer times, trying to build large-scale renewable energy power plants have been controversial, one reason being their large impact on the local environment. Some energy producers seem to think that Norway needs to capitalize on increasing small-scale renewable energy production to meet future energy demands. However, what do energy producers think of an influx of new and varied sorts of actors producing small-scale renewable energy?
The paper builds on a thematic analysis of a survey with 66 respondents who are representatives of energy companies in Norway with licenses to produce renewable energy for the period 2021-2024. The survey asks questions pertaining to technicalities surrounding their energy production, ownership, attitudes toward decentralization, small-scale vs. large-scale, as well as just and democratic energy transitions.
The survey shows that energy producers think energy transition is happening in a just manner in Norway, and they work towards a just transition by including local stakeholders early in the process of developing new power plants, partaking in public debates, and spreading information. Producers acknowledge that local stakeholders need to see the benefit of renewable energy to increase acceptance. However, when asked about citizen influence, they are split on whether they have too much influence already and agree that they should not have more influence than they already have.
Extracting North: The Repparfjord Case
by Datava Zane, NTNU
In the summer of 2021, I spent a week in a tent camp with young activists protesting the establishment of a new copper extraction site in Northern Norway. During my stay at the camp, participatory observations and interviews with participants opened many levels of how and why the planned mining site would influence people locally and globally. Reindeer herders, salmon fishermen, cabin owners, and neighbors were gathering. Sami and Norwegians, from afar and from the neighborhood, shared their opinions. Kids of people who had heard stories around the dining table about their parents’ involvement in Alta protests in the ’70s and ’80s against the building of a hydroelectric power plant were now participating in a protest against the construction of Repparfjord mining site and the dumping of mining residues in the fjord. Through the stories of historical events, I learned about the consequences of energy extraction in this area, which has had a forceful impact throughout the generations. Energy extractions were justified by the ‘naturalness’ of it, as it uses water, soil, or air to generate energy and the availability of nature in Northern Norway. However, those influenced pointed out the long-term polluting effects of extraction and violations regarding spatial and geographical justice.
Invisible sustainability work? Moving towards a just energy citizenship in sustainability transitions
by Solbu, Gisle and Heidenreich, Sara (NTNU)
This paper explores frictions between justice concerns addressed in current climate policy strategies, and the real-life, experienced needs of vulnerable groups. While the policy discourse on justice has been largely based on ideas of compensating regions and vulnerable groups that suffer economically because of climate policies, our study shows the need to move beyond this framing of economic sheltering. We find that low-income groups are not only vulnerable in terms of being exposed to increased expenses, but also from being excluded from living sustainable lives because of the economic capacities needed to take part in transition initiatives. As an example, in Norway, the wealthy middle-class benefits most from climate policies, e.g., through support for the purchase of new electric vehicles or for energy retrofits of privately owned homes that are beyond the reach of low-income groups. To create real processes and dynamics of participation in the ongoing transition, our findings show a need to develop financial strategies that can counterbalance the adverse distributional effects of climate policies, but also to develop strategies that aim to value and award the invisible sustainability work that is already conducted within low-income groups. Ultimately, the study shows the need for promoting a just and inclusive energy citizenship in sustainability policies.)
Enacting Energy Citizenship in Social Media
by Liste, Lucia (NTNU Social Research)
In the last decade, the concept of energy citizenship has attracted increasing attention, both among scholars and practitioners. The term comprises visions of more decentralised and democratic energy systems in which previously passive consumers can become active energy citizens, engaging and taking responsibility for energy production and consumption. One of the realms in which citizen engagement with energy issues is observed is social media. Indeed, online platforms are new arenas in which energy-related energy public issues are discussed and public support and/or opposition to energy projects is mobilised. However, the energy citizenship literature has paid little attention to social media as a realm where energy citizenship is practised. This paper aims to fill the gap by providing empirical insights about how energy citizens engage in social media-mediated public energy dialogue across Europe. Drawing on the results from a netnographic study, the paper maps and discusses energy citizenship enactments by looking at different engaging themes in four social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube) in four countries (Norway, Austria, Germany and Italy). Results point to four main themes being discussed in social media: nature protection, wildlife, health, and recreation activities; aesthetics; energy production; and the politics of wind energy. Furthermore, our findings problematize oversimplified conceptions of “citizens” and show how energy citizenship is not only about endorsing energy transitions, but also comprises adverse forms of engagement.
Contested Carbon Capture and Storage? Actors, strategies, and agendas
by Rowland, Jussara; Delicado, Ana; Prades, Ana; Oltra, Christian; López-Asensio, Sergi; and Gonçalves, Lila (Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa)
Carbon Capture and Storage is identified by the IPPC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) as one of the key technologies needed to mitigate climate change and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. In line with this recognition, the European Union (EU) has made significant investments in projects related to the development of CCS technology and provided funding for a range of CCS projects, including pilot plants, research, and development initiatives. While survey data shows that the public generally holds a positive view of the potential of CCS technology to mitigate climate change, it remains a controversial and contentious issue. The European Commission's attempt to encourage the development of CCS in several European countries in particular has been received with varying degrees of skepticism and acceptance/opposition from different stakeholders and sectors. While some express optimism about the potential for reducing emissions, others are concerned about the costs of the technology. The reasons for skepticism regarding carbon capture and storage (CCS) are diverse and vary for onshore and offshore options. Stakeholders' positions may be predictable in some cases, while in others they can be unexpected. Knowledge about the temporalities and constraints of the technology development, associations with other environmental issues (renewable energies, mining), or perceived secondary benefits, all can play a role in shaping perceptions and attitudes. This presentation is based on a comparative analysis of fieldwork on social acceptance of CCS in Portugal (offshore) and Spain (onshore), based on the EU-funded project CO2 Geological Pilots in Strategic Territories – PilotSTRATEGY.)
Just transition for whom? The case of coal phase-out in Poland
by Tarasova, Ekaterina (Södertörn University)
Policy makers and researchers have increasingly drawn attention to matters of justice in energy transitions. One of the crucial questions in the studies of justice in energy transitions is for whom transitions are just and who stays behind when transitions are imagined, planned, and realized. It is often said that some social groups may benefit from energy transitions while others can become more vulnerable and face negative consequences. This paper aims to map and discuss what social groups are recognized as potentially negatively affected in coal phase-out in Poland. Coal phase-out has been put on the Poland’s national agenda in the social agreement signed mainly by the Government, the state-owned Polish Mining Group and trade unions in the autumn of 2020, although details of implementing the phase-out remain unclear. The paper combines the energy justice literature with the concept of intersectionality for analyzing how diverse stakeholders reason about social groups that can be affected in coal phase-out. The whole system perspective in energy justice literature offers a lens for highlighting affected groups in coal phase-out in the entire life cycle of coal from coal mining to coal consumption and waste management. The concept of intersectionality contributes with the notion that some households in intersecting categories (socio-economic status, age, education) maybe affected to a greater degree. The analysis is based on 20 semi-structured interviews with public authorities, business, and civil society actors as well as policy documents and other types of text material.
Residualisation and household energy demand in social housing: emergent research agendas
by Hannah Charles; Bouzarovski, Stefan; Bellamy, Rob, The University of Manchester; Gormally, Alexandra, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University; and Schultz, Anton, One Manchester
This paper discusses the way that residualisation of the social housing sector has affected the energy-related challenges faced by social residents in the UK. We cover how the social housing sector has changed following encroaching privatisation, and how this has affected residents’ health, environment, and access to energy services. We discuss the way energy policies systematically marginalise social housing residents due to framing of publics around energy and net zero. We include a literature review of social housing issues and residualisation, and outline concepts of justice, publics and class that we discuss throughout the rest of the paper. Policy analysis of the social housing decarbonisation fund and the smart meter rollout is done to discuss how social residents are excluded from accessing procedural and recognition justice. In the conclusion, we provide an agenda that suggests ways in which future research can address exclusionary knowledge and policy practices within the social housing sector.
Organizers
Lucia Liste and Sara Heidenreich, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)