Paradoxes of Norway’s energy transition: controversies and justice

Korsnes, Marius; Loewen, Bradley; Dale, Ragnhild Freng; Steén, Markus; Skjølsvold, Tomas Moe

doi:10.1080/14693062.2023.2169238

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…Nevertheless, for energy transitions, the social barriers do not merely pose an inconvenience to the realisation of planning goals that could otherwise be pushed through a planning process, threatening legitimacy. Moreso, social barriers have the potential to cripple projects that are otherwise technically feasible, funded and have also gathered political support (on controversies around wind farm installations, see, e.g., Korsnes et al, 2023;Saglie et al, 2020), leading to potential cancellation and public backlash against further measures. Planning researchers, practitioners, and policymakers need a framework for the deeper and more reflective consideration of social barriers practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the "smart cities" literature). This article thus explores the urban energy transition in Norway, a country widely considered to be a leader in decarbonisation and use of renewables (International Energy Agency, 2022), despite critique as an oil and gas producer (Korsnes et al, 2023), by investigating the experiences of planners across a range of renewable and sustainable energy pilot project and demonstration sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From Social Barriers to Transformative Planning in Energy Transitions: Learning from Norwegian Planners' Perspectives

Loewen

2024

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This study investigates social barriers in Norwegian urban energy projects from the planner’s perspective, bridging institutional and reflexive approaches in the field of planning. Compared to technological barriers encountered in the energy transition, social barriers have received relatively little attention. While the former implies a need for hard technological fixes, social barriers cross sectoral dimensions and can potentially be transformed through strategic action during the life of a project. When planning energy transitions under the popular guise of smart and sustainable cities, social barriers arise in the context of urban experimentation, which challenges institutional constructs, participatory planning principles, and knowledge. These aspects are addressed from the planner’s perspective through analysis of planners’ experiences in seven energy pilot and demonstration sites in Norway. The results identify categories of social barriers related to the understanding of a shared vision amongst stakeholders, lowered ambitions over the course of a project, lack of user involvement, and structural constraints to planning. A framework for a deeper understanding of social barriers is proposed, extending to the notion of planners’ transformative agency to support sustainability transitions, which has the potential for future enrichment through the addition of cases and application in other fields of sustainability transitions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Social Barriers to Transformative Planning in Energy Transitions: Learning from Norwegian Planners' Perspectives

Loewen

2024

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“…We return to social aspects of the energy transition with brief examples. Problematic implications of renewables are observed in both rich and poor countries (84). A recent thesis on the energy transition in Sri Lanka (85) exemplifies poor societal outcomes of energy transitions as currently conceived.…”

Section: Distribution: Energy and Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Transition: Questioning the Underlying Assumptions

Butters,

Jakobsen

2024

Preprint

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The global energy transition is motivated largely by the need to combat climate change. Other reasons include limits to available fossil fuels, energy-related environmental impacts of many kinds, and societal goals such as equity and providing sustainable energy for the poor. This transition will significantly change the world both technically, economically and socially. It is taking shape with characteristics which prioritise certain types of policy, interventions and solutions, as well as certain actors and institutional forces. More fundamentally, it embodies underlying assumptions about what constitutes a desirable type of economy and society. Briefly stated, the energy transition is being geared to a conventional economic growth-focused type of development; including the not unchallenged concept of green growth. Not everyone, however, would agree on those priorities or the underlying assumptions. We point out various constraints and limitations which this approach places on the energy transition. Whilst much of the change being initiated is positive, we argue that different views, which lie closer to discourses such as strong sustainability (1), deep ecology (2) and ecological economics (3, 4) might prioritise differently and offer both necessary and desirable outcomes. Given the predominant focus on energy and climate, equally essential goals such as equity and eradication of poverty appear to be at particular risk of being missed. Building on examples and recent experience we argue that achieving global sustainable energy, not least the societal goals, remains unlikely within socio-political frameworks permeated by the imperatives of market-driven growth, the commodification of resources, and intense competitive dynamics. Technology and economics, the themes of this issue, have far-reaching societal implications and outcomes. We argue that it is essential that they be considered within the broad context discussed here.

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“…This paper makes use of social conflict theory to develop its argument and seeks to show how the conflict perspective can help to systematically understand the justice challenges of green regeneration in today's (neoliberal) urban realities. As for its empirical foundation, this paper analyses a number of local conflict settings that are understood as definable and concrete representations of conflicts with a clearly identifiable subject and involved actors/interests (see also [5]). For this purpose, this paper uses a criteria-based approach to reanalyse empirical material that was gathered during several research projects about a case study area in the inner east area of the city of Leipzig, Germany.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequalities and Injustices of Urban Green Regeneration: Applying the Conflict Analysis Perspective

Haase

2024

Land

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Green regeneration has become one of the most powerful strategies for improving the quality of life in cities, supporting climate change adaptation, and reducing the carbon footprints of cities. While it is the ambition of most green regeneration projects to create benefits for residents and users, reality shows that green regeneration also reinforces existing or even shapes new ‘green inequalities’. These can result from green gentrification and displacement, procedural injustices, and exclusion from participation or barriers to the access and use of newly created urban green spaces. Set against this background, the paper uses a conflict analysis perspective to look at the inequalities and injustices that evolve within the context of green regeneration. Applying social conflict theory, it seeks to understand (1) why and how green regeneration may lead to inequality and justice conflicts and (2) how conflict analysis helps to understand the nature and implications of green regeneration conflicts in more depth. As for its empirical foundation, the paper reanalyses empirical evidence that was examined in earlier projects on a residential area in the city of Leipzig, Germany.

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Paradoxes of Norway’s energy transition: controversies and justice

Cited by 16 publications

References 71 publications

From Social Barriers to Transformative Planning in Energy Transitions: Learning from Norwegian Planners' Perspectives

From Social Barriers to Transformative Planning in Energy Transitions: Learning from Norwegian Planners' Perspectives

Energy Transition: Questioning the Underlying Assumptions

Inequalities and Injustices of Urban Green Regeneration: Applying the Conflict Analysis Perspective

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