Ideologies in Energy Transition: Community Discourses on Renewables

Abstract

This paper examines discourses in five Finnish municipalities’ energy transition processes to identify and explain different ideological discourses among its members. The study fills a gap in research extending the idea of sense making to capture the ideologies that hide in discourses during socio-technical transitions. We identify three types of ideological discourses labelled as Clan, Solarpunk and Native. The implications of the ideologies embedded in municipal, multi-partner networks that participate in energy transition affect who will be heard in a local context. This impacts future choices directly related to sustainability outcomes. We propose that discourses in these multi-partner networks, conceptualized from the perspective of municipal energy systems, help us to uncover underlying ideologies that imperil change. And yet at the same time, these revelations offer opportunities for sustainability-oriented innovation.