Renewable energy plays an important role in the transition to a low emission society, yet in many regions energy projects have resulted in increasing societal polarization. Based on a comprehensive literature review and a survey among stakeholders from specific regions in Germany, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Spain with little prior experience with wind energy, we highlight six categories of factors that shape community acceptance of onshore wind energy development: technical characteristics of wind energy projects, environmental impacts, economic impacts, societal impacts, contextual factors and individual characteristics. We identify key similarities in acceptance-related patterns of wind energy development across the selected regions, but also important differences, highlighting the very context-specific nature of community acceptance. The findings contribute to improving the understanding of the forces, factors and relationships at play between policy frameworks and perceptions of wind energy under different conditions. We conclude by proposing policy recommendations regarding measures to increase the positive impacts and reduce the negative impacts of wind energy projects, and to strengthen existing drivers and reduce barriers to community acceptance of wind energy development.
Abstract. Despite the generally accepted weakness of trade unions at the European Union level, an analysis of two high profile cases -the Services Directive and the Port Directive -shows that trade unions are able to mobilise effectively at the European level and, within constellations of actors, crucially impact EU decision making. In contrast to common claims that a lack of access to EU institutions makes such groups powerless, it is argued here that the exclusion of large opposing societal groups from consultations is neither a quick nor a sure fire recipe for dismantling opposition. On the contrary, it politicises the process and may lead to opposing groups mobilising in more contentious ways.
Researchers expect under-reaction in climate policy. However, this might differ depending on the access of different interest groups to a political system. To explore the relationship between entrenched patterns of domestic politics and proportionality of climate policy, we compare two renewables policies which financially support new renewable electricity in the UK. Drawing on the literature on policy styles and related opportunity structures, this article shows that UK political parties have responded to growing public concern and NGO pressure by, at times, trying to out-green one another to win votes. However, powerful industry actors have been influential in shaping UK renewables policies, in particular when political competition about the individual policies has been low. The findings suggest that an over-reaction in terms of exceeding the marginal costs of renewable electricity production is equally likely under conditions of high or low political competition.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.