Pub Date : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104511
L.E. Rielli , J.J.X. Wang
Ensuring that the energy transition actively accounts for stakeholders' concerns is critical to both addressing and redressing (in)justices. From an energy justice perspective, key aspects – including distributive, procedural, recognitional, and restorative justice – must be duly inscribed across the lifecycles of new renewable energy infrastructures. This article aims to identify the salient stakeholder concerns and propose corresponding policy actions that embed justice principles in the energy transition. It particularly emphasizes on the implications for affected stakeholders groups, namely workers, suppliers, communities, and consumers. Drawing on evidence from ethnographic field observations and semi-structured interviews (n = 47) in solar photovoltaic energy projects in Brazil and Portugal, this Perspective article proposes a framework of structural and practical policy actions that centre the affected stakeholders' concerns, which can be adapted across global geographies. This work contributes to the just energy transitions global agenda by providing practical recommendations for integrating justice into energy policies.
{"title":"Fairing the energy transition: A policy framework for integrating stakeholder concerns in solar energy development","authors":"L.E. Rielli , J.J.X. Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104511","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104511","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ensuring that the energy transition actively accounts for stakeholders' concerns is critical to both addressing and redressing (in)justices. From an energy justice perspective, key aspects – including distributive, procedural, recognitional, and restorative justice – must be duly inscribed across the lifecycles of new renewable energy infrastructures. This article aims to identify the salient stakeholder concerns and propose corresponding policy actions that embed justice principles in the energy transition. It particularly emphasizes on the implications for affected stakeholders groups, namely workers, suppliers, communities, and consumers. Drawing on evidence from ethnographic field observations and semi-structured interviews (<em>n</em> = 47) in solar photovoltaic energy projects in Brazil and Portugal, this Perspective article proposes a framework of structural and practical policy actions that centre the affected stakeholders' concerns, which can be adapted across global geographies. This work contributes to the just energy transitions global agenda by providing practical recommendations for integrating justice into energy policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104511"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104510
Arief Rahman , David Wadley , Paul Dargusch
Norway, Western Europe's largest petroleum exporter, faces a profound paradox: its economic prosperity relies heavily on hydrocarbon production, yet it champions some of the world's most ambitious climate policies. Petroleum exports account for 18 % of GDP and 42 % of total export value, while domestic CO₂ emissions reach 50 million tonnes annually, excluding emissions from exported fuels, which would multiply its climate footprint tenfold. This paper examines Norway's dual role as a strategic energy supplier and a climate leader during a period of European energy insecurity. We analyze the implications of expanding oil and gas exploration on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, assess production- and consumption-based emission accounting frameworks, and propose a more comprehensive climate accountability approach. A new discussion section synthesizes political economy perspectives on the feasibility of reducing production, identifies key actors shaping policy, and evaluates arguments for continued extraction amid global energy transition. Our findings highlight the tension between short-term energy imperatives and long-term climate commitments, offering pathways for reconciling these competing priorities. The study contributes novel insights by integrating emission accounting reform with strategic policy options, advancing the debate on how resource-rich nations can align fossil fuel dependence with climate responsibility.
{"title":"The contested political economy of Norway's oil and gas industry","authors":"Arief Rahman , David Wadley , Paul Dargusch","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104510","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104510","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Norway, Western Europe's largest petroleum exporter, faces a profound paradox: its economic prosperity relies heavily on hydrocarbon production, yet it champions some of the world's most ambitious climate policies. Petroleum exports account for 18 % of GDP and 42 % of total export value, while domestic CO₂ emissions reach 50 million tonnes annually, excluding emissions from exported fuels, which would multiply its climate footprint tenfold. This paper examines Norway's dual role as a strategic energy supplier and a climate leader during a period of European energy insecurity. We analyze the implications of expanding oil and gas exploration on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, assess production- and consumption-based emission accounting frameworks, and propose a more comprehensive climate accountability approach. A new discussion section synthesizes political economy perspectives on the feasibility of reducing production, identifies key actors shaping policy, and evaluates arguments for continued extraction amid global energy transition. Our findings highlight the tension between short-term energy imperatives and long-term climate commitments, offering pathways for reconciling these competing priorities. The study contributes novel insights by integrating emission accounting reform with strategic policy options, advancing the debate on how resource-rich nations can align fossil fuel dependence with climate responsibility.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104510"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790438","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104501
Holly Jean Buck , Vanessa Suarez , Travis Young
Policy discussions have focused on how clean energy and climate technologies can provide local or community benefits, but these discussions are often disconnected from research on what communities perceive to be benefits. This paper uses interviews (n = 113) in five regions of the United States to explore what local experts and community leaders perceive as the benefits of net zero technology development. It finds that people identify a wide range of benefits of interest beyond the types of benefits often packaged in transactional community benefit agreements. Respondents discussed economic, ecological, restorative, and resilience benefits, emotional and aesthetic benefits, sovereignty benefits, and more. The paper offers a typology of eight kinds of benefits to consider and discusses two potential frameworks for assessing benefits based on value analysis and standpoint analysis. In a shifting political landscape where net zero technologies can face local opposition and carbon reductions are no longer enough to motivate investment, reconceptualizing benefits and shaping policy for benefit delivery may be a way forward.
{"title":"Reimagining benefits from climate infrastructure and investments","authors":"Holly Jean Buck , Vanessa Suarez , Travis Young","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104501","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104501","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Policy discussions have focused on how clean energy and climate technologies can provide local or community benefits, but these discussions are often disconnected from research on what communities perceive to be benefits. This paper uses interviews (<em>n</em> = 113) in five regions of the United States to explore what local experts and community leaders perceive as the benefits of net zero technology development. It finds that people identify a wide range of benefits of interest beyond the types of benefits often packaged in transactional community benefit agreements. Respondents discussed economic, ecological, restorative, and resilience benefits, emotional and aesthetic benefits, sovereignty benefits, and more. The paper offers a typology of eight kinds of benefits to consider and discusses two potential frameworks for assessing benefits based on value analysis and standpoint analysis. In a shifting political landscape where net zero technologies can face local opposition and carbon reductions are no longer enough to motivate investment, reconceptualizing benefits and shaping policy for benefit delivery may be a way forward.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104501"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104512
Ankit Bhardwaj , Josh Whitford , Brady Kennedy , Gianpaolo Baiocchi , H. Jacob Carlson , Bianca Howard
There is ample evidence that the pursuit of decarbonization — the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — necessary to avoid dangerous scenarios of climate change is associated with a variety of social, economic and environmental co-benefits that are not, however, integrated into decision-making processes that remain institutionally bound to techno-economic objectives. Drawing on 58 interviews and field observations of people working on New York City's residential buildings, a sector that has since 2019 been subject to an ambitious set of financial incentives and regulations for decarbonization, we ask when and why professionals reference co-benefits to influence their clients' decision-making. We develop a cultural framework to analyze co-benefits as a category of practice, showing that they serve as a satisficing device professionals deploy as they strive to meet multiple client needs, stack various sources of finance, and comply with a bevy of regulations.
{"title":"Satisficing devices: Co-benefits in practice to decarbonize New York City's residential buildings","authors":"Ankit Bhardwaj , Josh Whitford , Brady Kennedy , Gianpaolo Baiocchi , H. Jacob Carlson , Bianca Howard","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104512","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104512","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There is ample evidence that the pursuit of decarbonization — the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — necessary to avoid dangerous scenarios of climate change is associated with a variety of social, economic and environmental co-benefits that are not, however, integrated into decision-making processes that remain institutionally bound to techno-economic objectives. Drawing on 58 interviews and field observations of people working on New York City's residential buildings, a sector that has since 2019 been subject to an ambitious set of financial incentives and regulations for decarbonization, we ask when and why professionals reference co-benefits to influence their clients' decision-making. We develop a cultural framework to analyze co-benefits as a category of practice, showing that they serve as a <em>satisficing device</em> professionals deploy as they strive to meet multiple client needs, stack various sources of finance, and comply with a bevy of regulations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104512"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-17DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104509
Allan Dahl Andersen , Tuukka Mäkitie , Markus Steen , Iris Wanzenböck
The acceleration of sustainability transitions increasingly hinges on industrial transformation, i.e., structural changes in the sectors that produce, use, and support low-carbon technologies. Such changes shape the pace and direction of transitions by affecting the availability of critical inputs—from manufacturing capacity to materials for batteries, transformers, or solar PV—and by creating new opportunities for industrial value creation. Yet current transition studies frameworks offer only partial views of these dynamics. The MLP whole-systems perspective highlights knock-on effects arising from widespread technology diffusion, while the technological innovation system (TIS) approach examines the upscaling of technology value chains. Because these perspectives are typically discussed separately, they provide limited insight into how industrial transformation and system transitions co-evolve. Drawing on evolutionary economics, we integrate these views into a multi-sectoral perspective that distinguishes between service value chains and technology value chains and conceptualizes how they interact in transitions. We assess and refine this framework through a systematic review of 80 empirical studies. The review confirms the usefulness of the perspective and identifies nine key processes that shape multi-sectoral dynamics. We distill five broader insights for transition studies, including the importance of sectoral overlaps, meta-regime shifts, distributed incumbency, spatially uneven industrial opportunities, and the evolving sectoral scope of transitions. These insights enable more granular analysis of how transitions unfold across interconnected sectors and underscore the need for integrated analytical tools and policy approaches that can more accurately interpret and respond to inter-sectoral dynamics in accelerating transitions.
{"title":"Conceptualizing the relationship between industrial transformation and accelerating sustainability transitions: A multi-sectoral perspective","authors":"Allan Dahl Andersen , Tuukka Mäkitie , Markus Steen , Iris Wanzenböck","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104509","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104509","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The acceleration of sustainability transitions increasingly hinges on industrial transformation, i.e., structural changes in the sectors that produce, use, and support low-carbon technologies. Such changes shape the pace and direction of transitions by affecting the availability of critical inputs—from manufacturing capacity to materials for batteries, transformers, or solar PV—and by creating new opportunities for industrial value creation. Yet current transition studies frameworks offer only partial views of these dynamics. The MLP whole-systems perspective highlights knock-on effects arising from widespread technology diffusion, while the technological innovation system (TIS) approach examines the upscaling of technology value chains. Because these perspectives are typically discussed separately, they provide limited insight into how industrial transformation and system transitions co-evolve. Drawing on evolutionary economics, we integrate these views into a multi-sectoral perspective that distinguishes between service value chains and technology value chains and conceptualizes how they interact in transitions. We assess and refine this framework through a systematic review of 80 empirical studies. The review confirms the usefulness of the perspective and identifies nine key processes that shape multi-sectoral dynamics. We distill five broader insights for transition studies, including the importance of sectoral overlaps, meta-regime shifts, distributed incumbency, spatially uneven industrial opportunities, and the evolving sectoral scope of transitions. These insights enable more granular analysis of how transitions unfold across interconnected sectors and underscore the need for integrated analytical tools and policy approaches that can more accurately interpret and respond to inter-sectoral dynamics in accelerating transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104509"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790441","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104513
Eulàlia Baulenas , Menno Veerman , Edgar Dolores-Tesillos , Aleksander Lacima-Nadolnik , Carlos Delgado-Torres , Kerstin Haslehner , Arjun Kumar , Albert Soret , Dragana Bojovic
Kilometre-scale Earth system models (km-ESMs) represent a significant advancement in climate modelling, offering unprecedented spatial detail. To ensure their societal relevance, this study explores how combining storyline methodologies can bridge science and decision-making in the context of the renewable energy transition. The study conducted a discourse-based stakeholder mapping and through participatory workshops, three scenario storylines were co-produced reflecting divergent energy futures. These scenarios were implemented through masking km-scale climate simulations. This process facilitated the communication of complex model outputs to non-technical participants, and also fostered reflection on how such information could inform their own and interdependent decision-making within the energy transition. The joint discussions highlighted the trade-offs and synergies between renewable energy production, biodiversity protection, and community empowerment. Stakeholders identified key climate information needs from different perspectives of the renewable energy sector, stressing the value of km-scale resolution data in regional planning and infrastructure resilience. By treating storylines as boundary objects, we demonstrate how local narratives can inform model development and how models can, in turn, support societal processes of relevance. Our results underscore the potential of co-produced, discourse-driven scenario storylines to enhance the usability and impact of emerging climate modelling tools.
{"title":"Kilometre-scale Earth system models to support the renewable energy transition: a combination of storyline methodologies","authors":"Eulàlia Baulenas , Menno Veerman , Edgar Dolores-Tesillos , Aleksander Lacima-Nadolnik , Carlos Delgado-Torres , Kerstin Haslehner , Arjun Kumar , Albert Soret , Dragana Bojovic","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104513","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104513","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Kilometre-scale Earth system models (km-ESMs) represent a significant advancement in climate modelling, offering unprecedented spatial detail. To ensure their societal relevance, this study explores how combining storyline methodologies can bridge science and decision-making in the context of the renewable energy transition. The study conducted a discourse-based stakeholder mapping and through participatory workshops, three scenario storylines were co-produced reflecting divergent energy futures. These scenarios were implemented through masking km-scale climate simulations. This process facilitated the communication of complex model outputs to non-technical participants, and also fostered reflection on how such information could inform their own and interdependent decision-making within the energy transition. The joint discussions highlighted the trade-offs and synergies between renewable energy production, biodiversity protection, and community empowerment. Stakeholders identified key climate information needs from different perspectives of the renewable energy sector, stressing the value of km-scale resolution data in regional planning and infrastructure resilience. By treating storylines as boundary objects, we demonstrate how local narratives can inform model development and how models can, in turn, support societal processes of relevance. Our results underscore the potential of co-produced, discourse-driven scenario storylines to enhance the usability and impact of emerging climate modelling tools.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104513"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104502
Lisanne Visseren , Anika Batenburg , Francesco Dalla Longa , Peter Mulder
We assess the increasingly prevalent assertion that energy poverty in high-income countries disproportionately affects women and households with a migration background. Much of the existing evidence supporting this claim is non-causal and often fails to disentangle the effects of income. To address these limitations, we apply both descriptive statistical methods and a two-stage logistic regression analysis to comprehensive, high-quality administrative microdata covering nearly 90 % of Dutch households. We examine how gender, migration background, income, and housing characteristics interact to shape energy poverty outcomes. Our key finding is that what initially appears as a gender or migration bias in energy poverty statistics is, in fact, primarily a reflection of income disparities across these demographic groups. Beyond income, our results also highlight the importance of spatial, institutional, and behavioral factors in shaping vulnerability. In particular, we find that the relatively high energy quality of social housing in the Netherlands mitigates the risk that women and migrants—despite a gender and migration pay gap—end up in energy poverty. We also identify differences in energy poverty subtypes: women are more exposed to combinedenergy poverty (energy-inefficient housing and high energy costs), while men are more likely to exhibit hidden energy poverty (energy-inefficient housing but low energy costs). These findings underscore the importance of addressing structural inequalities in income and housing beyond the energy domain when designing effective policies to reduce energy poverty. A just and inclusive energy transition will therefore depend on addressing the broader socio-economic and institutional conditions that underlie energy poverty.
{"title":"Is energy poverty characterized by a gender and migration bias? Microdata evidence from the Netherlands","authors":"Lisanne Visseren , Anika Batenburg , Francesco Dalla Longa , Peter Mulder","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104502","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104502","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We assess the increasingly prevalent assertion that energy poverty in high-income countries disproportionately affects women and households with a migration background. Much of the existing evidence supporting this claim is non-causal and often fails to disentangle the effects of income. To address these limitations, we apply both descriptive statistical methods and a two-stage logistic regression analysis to comprehensive, high-quality administrative microdata covering nearly 90 % of Dutch households. We examine how gender, migration background, income, and housing characteristics interact to shape energy poverty outcomes. Our key finding is that what initially appears as a gender or migration bias in energy poverty statistics is, in fact, primarily a reflection of income disparities across these demographic groups. Beyond income, our results also highlight the importance of spatial, institutional, and behavioral factors in shaping vulnerability. In particular, we find that the relatively high energy quality of social housing in the Netherlands mitigates the risk that women and migrants—despite a gender and migration pay gap—end up in energy poverty. We also identify differences in energy poverty subtypes: women are more exposed to combinedenergy poverty (energy-inefficient housing and high energy costs), while men are more likely to exhibit hidden energy poverty (energy-inefficient housing but low energy costs). These findings underscore the importance of addressing structural inequalities in income and housing beyond the energy domain when designing effective policies to reduce energy poverty. A just and inclusive energy transition will therefore depend on addressing the broader socio-economic and institutional conditions that underlie energy poverty.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104502"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104492
Frank W. Geels , Karen Smith Stegen , Gregory Trencher , Peter Wells
Building on research into the types of resistance strategies employed by incumbent firms (including framing, lobbying, organised pressure, and litigation), this article investigates the temporal development of these strategies during low-carbon transitions. Rather than understanding resistance as a temporary phenomenon in early transition stages, we conceptualise it as a dimension recurring over multiple phases. We develop an ideal-type framework of changes in the type and focus of resistance strategies during five phases of low-carbon reorientation, thereby identifying the industry playbook. We apply this framework to three case studies of incumbent automakers in the United States, Germany, and Japan, which since the 1990s have used multiple resistance strategies while reorienting towards battery electric vehicles (BEVs). We find that US automakers resisted strongly from the early 1990s, that German automakers gradually increased their resistance strategies over time, and that Japanese automakers hardly resisted in early phases (because of their reorientation towards hybrid electric vehicles) but strongly resisted BEVs in later phases. We further find that US automakers used more overt confrontational strategies, while Japanese and German automakers relied on less visible lobbying and consultation tactics. Automakers used resistance strategies throughout the entire case study duration but shifted focus in the last period from opposing the direction of travel towards resisting the speed of change. Although automakers are now significantly reorienting towards BEVs, they continue to use resistance strategies. We explain this paradox by suggesting that automakers play multi-dimensional chess, in which they reorient in some dimensions while resisting in others.
{"title":"The temporal evolution of resistance strategies during low-carbon transitions: Revealing the industry playbook of US, German, and Japanese automakers in the unfolding electric vehicle transition (1990–2025)","authors":"Frank W. Geels , Karen Smith Stegen , Gregory Trencher , Peter Wells","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104492","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104492","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Building on research into the types of resistance strategies employed by incumbent firms (including framing, lobbying, organised pressure, and litigation), this article investigates the temporal development of these strategies during low-carbon transitions. Rather than understanding resistance as a temporary phenomenon in early transition stages, we conceptualise it as a dimension recurring over multiple phases. We develop an ideal-type framework of changes in the type and focus of resistance strategies during five phases of low-carbon reorientation, thereby identifying the industry playbook. We apply this framework to three case studies of incumbent automakers in the United States, Germany, and Japan, which since the 1990s have used multiple resistance strategies while reorienting towards battery electric vehicles (BEVs). We find that US automakers resisted strongly from the early 1990s, that German automakers gradually increased their resistance strategies over time, and that Japanese automakers hardly resisted in early phases (because of their reorientation towards hybrid electric vehicles) but strongly resisted BEVs in later phases. We further find that US automakers used more overt confrontational strategies, while Japanese and German automakers relied on less visible lobbying and consultation tactics. Automakers used resistance strategies throughout the entire case study duration but shifted focus in the last period from opposing the <em>direction</em> of travel towards resisting the <em>speed</em> of change. Although automakers are now significantly reorienting towards BEVs, they continue to use resistance strategies. We explain this paradox by suggesting that automakers play multi-dimensional chess, in which they reorient in some dimensions while resisting in others.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104492"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790346","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104498
Marie Josefine Hintz , Milena Gross , Felix Creutzig , Lynn H. Kaack
European cities are increasingly exploring artificial intelligence (AI) applications to achieve their climate goals. Yet, how European city administrations implement AI-for-climate projects remains unclear. To address this gap, we interviewed city staff and urban innovation experts (n=15 interviewees) from Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Greater Paris, Helsinki, and Vienna about their motivations, challenges, solutions, and partnerships when deploying AI tools. We found that city administrations were driven by different priorities that extend beyond accelerating climate action, such as improving decision-making, providing better services to residents, reducing costs, and showcasing innovation. We also identified implementation challenges for city administrations, for instance, socio-technical interoperability with existing systems or increasing AI literacy among city staff who work on climate action. We characterized three implementation arrangements through which cities deployed AI, highlighting the plural roles of city administrations in shaping AI deployment. Our analysis indicates that the European Commission, start-ups, researchers, and innovation labs were key partners for implementation, unlike civil society and large technology firms. Our study also reveals substantial challenges even for large, affluent cities, creating doubt about the applicability of AI projects for climate change mitigation in small and medium-sized cities.
{"title":"Practical implementation of artificial intelligence for climate change mitigation in cities – priorities, collaborations and challenges","authors":"Marie Josefine Hintz , Milena Gross , Felix Creutzig , Lynn H. Kaack","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104498","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104498","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>European cities are increasingly exploring artificial intelligence (AI) applications to achieve their climate goals. Yet, how European city administrations implement AI-for-climate projects remains unclear. To address this gap, we interviewed city staff and urban innovation experts (n=15 interviewees) from Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Greater Paris, Helsinki, and Vienna about their motivations, challenges, solutions, and partnerships when deploying AI tools. We found that city administrations were driven by different priorities that extend beyond accelerating climate action, such as improving decision-making, providing better services to residents, reducing costs, and showcasing innovation. We also identified implementation challenges for city administrations, for instance, socio-technical interoperability with existing systems or increasing AI literacy among city staff who work on climate action. We characterized three implementation arrangements through which cities deployed AI, highlighting the plural roles of city administrations in shaping AI deployment. Our analysis indicates that the European Commission, start-ups, researchers, and innovation labs were key partners for implementation, unlike civil society and large technology firms. Our study also reveals substantial challenges even for large, affluent cities, creating doubt about the applicability of AI projects for climate change mitigation in small and medium-sized cities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104498"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-16DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104506
Lucía Liste , Marit S. Olsen , Berit T. Nilsen
Road transport has become one of the most politically contested domains of decarbonization, as measures such as road pricing redistribute costs and responsibilities in ways that directly shape everyday life. These conflicts signal a broader shift in climate governance, where low-carbon transitions increasingly hinge not on public acceptance but on political struggle. This article addresses this challenge by examining how contestation actively shapes transition pathways.
We develop the concept of contestation-as-participation, which integrates insights from Energy Justice and Ecologies of Participation. This lens clarifies the content of justice claims while revealing the relational and emergent practices through which actors mobilize, transform, and negotiate these claims over time. In doing so, the article advances action-oriented approaches within Energy Justice by showing how justice is enacted, reworked, and made consequential through ongoing conflict.
Empirically, we analyze media debates on road tolls in Bergen, Kristiansand, and Trondheim between 2000 and 2022, focusing on peak moments of contestation in 2006, 2013, and 2019. The findings show that: (i) contestation is not an obstacle but a driver shaping the direction and legitimacy of transition pathways; (ii) public debates involve heterogeneous actors, strategies, and claims that are obscured by notions of a singular “public”; and (iii) contestation generates ambivalent outcomes, simultaneously enabling democratic renewal and contributing to polarization and mistrust.
We conclude that climate governance should not seek to minimize or bypass conflict. Instead, contestation must be recognized and engaged as a crucial form of participation—and as a resource for negotiating just, democratic, and resilient low-carbon transitions.
{"title":"Contestation is the process: Media debates, democratic struggles, and the decarbonization of road transport in Norway","authors":"Lucía Liste , Marit S. Olsen , Berit T. Nilsen","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104506","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104506","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Road transport has become one of the most politically contested domains of decarbonization, as measures such as road pricing redistribute costs and responsibilities in ways that directly shape everyday life. These conflicts signal a broader shift in climate governance, where low-carbon transitions increasingly hinge not on public acceptance but on political struggle. This article addresses this challenge by examining how contestation actively shapes transition pathways.</div><div>We develop the concept of contestation-as-participation, which integrates insights from Energy Justice and Ecologies of Participation. This lens clarifies the content of justice claims while revealing the relational and emergent practices through which actors mobilize, transform, and negotiate these claims over time. In doing so, the article advances action-oriented approaches within Energy Justice by showing how justice is enacted, reworked, and made consequential through ongoing conflict.</div><div>Empirically, we analyze media debates on road tolls in Bergen, Kristiansand, and Trondheim between 2000 and 2022, focusing on peak moments of contestation in 2006, 2013, and 2019. The findings show that: (i) contestation is not an obstacle but a driver shaping the direction and legitimacy of transition pathways; (ii) public debates involve heterogeneous actors, strategies, and claims that are obscured by notions of a singular “public”; and (iii) contestation generates ambivalent outcomes, simultaneously enabling democratic renewal and contributing to polarization and mistrust.</div><div>We conclude that climate governance should not seek to minimize or bypass conflict. Instead, contestation must be recognized and engaged as a crucial form of participation—and as a resource for negotiating just, democratic, and resilient low-carbon transitions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"131 ","pages":"Article 104506"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145790436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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