Pub Date : 2025-02-27DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104000
Rabab Saleh , Georgeta Vidican Auktor , Alexander Brem
The role of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions is gaining more attention, with rapidly rising evidence of their proactive role in the change. Nevertheless, debates continue to focus on their defensive and resisting role. Studies that review the existing knowledge on incumbents' interaction with sustainability transitions are lacking. Therefore, this research applies a systematic literature review to introduce a synthesised approach to differentiate between incumbents' proactive and defensive strategies. Further, it examines these strategies more closely and proposes a level-based typology that includes organisational and management, technology development, industry and markets, and institutional. It argues that this classification has implications for scholarship, policymaking and management and highlights avoiding the sectoral bias in empirical evidence on proactive and defensive strategies and how addressing the four-level strategies by which incumbents interact with sustainability transitions contributes to creating policies and strategies that enforce an incumbent-led transition.
{"title":"Incumbency and sustainability transitions: A systematic review and typology of strategies","authors":"Rabab Saleh , Georgeta Vidican Auktor , Alexander Brem","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104000","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104000","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The role of incumbent firms in sustainability transitions is gaining more attention, with rapidly rising evidence of their proactive role in the change. Nevertheless, debates continue to focus on their defensive and resisting role. Studies that review the existing knowledge on incumbents' interaction with sustainability transitions are lacking. Therefore, this research applies a systematic literature review to introduce a synthesised approach to differentiate between incumbents' proactive and defensive strategies. Further, it examines these strategies more closely and proposes a level-based typology that includes organisational and management, technology development, industry and markets, and institutional. It argues that this classification has implications for scholarship, policymaking and management and highlights avoiding the sectoral bias in empirical evidence on proactive and defensive strategies and how addressing the four-level strategies by which incumbents interact with sustainability transitions contributes to creating policies and strategies that enforce an incumbent-led transition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 104000"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143510025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-26DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103982
Sharayu Shejale , Mallory Xinyu Zhan , Marlyne Sahakian , Remina Aleksieva , Mehmet Efe Biresselioglu , Victoria Bogdanova , Barbara Cardone , Julia Epp , Benjamin Kirchler , Andrea Kollmann , Lucia Liste , Chiara Massullo , Karl-Ludwig Schibel
The engagement of citizens in the energy transition through a variety of energy initiatives is an important component of a just energy transition. Through analyses of 378 energy initiatives, along with 81 interviews with energy professionals across eight European countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and Türkiye, we examine how and in what ways these initiatives address justice outcomes. Specifically, we look at citizen participation as an avenue to procedural justice, which may enable forms or distributional and recognitional justice as well. We critically examine the different forms of citizen engagement put forward by such initiatives, classifying such initiatives into three types: i) demand side action, ii) supply side action and iii) political action. While all forms of engagement are instrumental, the latter two attach greater importance to collective actions and the political agency of individuals. For demand side actions, we find that people tend to be reduced to economic actors subject to top-down directives, given agency in the privacy of their homes through atomized, individual action. Supply side initiatives, like energy communities, may encourage increased citizen involvement, yet they may not fully reflect the ideals of collective political action. Direct participation in shaping energy policies is found to be an avenue towards procedural justice. Yet, it can also exclude female, non-white, lower-income populations unless processes are put into place for fairer representation. Finally, our analysis points to the potential of initiatives that move towards more political and collective actions to deliver energy justice.
{"title":"Participation as a pathway to procedural justice: A review of energy initiatives across eight European countries","authors":"Sharayu Shejale , Mallory Xinyu Zhan , Marlyne Sahakian , Remina Aleksieva , Mehmet Efe Biresselioglu , Victoria Bogdanova , Barbara Cardone , Julia Epp , Benjamin Kirchler , Andrea Kollmann , Lucia Liste , Chiara Massullo , Karl-Ludwig Schibel","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103982","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103982","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The engagement of citizens in the energy transition through a variety of energy initiatives is an important component of a just energy transition. Through analyses of 378 energy initiatives, along with 81 interviews with energy professionals across eight European countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and Türkiye, we examine how and in what ways these initiatives address justice outcomes. Specifically, we look at citizen participation as an avenue to procedural justice, which may enable forms or distributional and recognitional justice as well. We critically examine the different forms of citizen engagement put forward by such initiatives, classifying such initiatives into three types: i) demand side action, ii) supply side action and iii) political action. While all forms of engagement are instrumental, the latter two attach greater importance to collective actions and the political agency of individuals. For demand side actions, we find that people tend to be reduced to economic actors subject to top-down directives, given agency in the privacy of their homes through atomized, individual action. Supply side initiatives, like energy communities, may encourage increased citizen involvement, yet they may not fully reflect the ideals of collective political action. Direct participation in shaping energy policies is found to be an avenue towards procedural justice. Yet, it can also exclude female, non-white, lower-income populations unless processes are put into place for fairer representation. Finally, our analysis points to the potential of initiatives that move towards more political and collective actions to deliver energy justice.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103982"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143510026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Home weatherization could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve residents' health and comfort. However, uptake in disadvantaged communities, which could benefit the most, is low. Here we assess barriers to weatherization in owner-occupied single-family homes in Michigan. We interview the heads of 40 households, each of which received comprehensive energy assessments (CEA). Half the households in our study have below-median incomes; 40% are energy insecure; 43% need additional heating or cooling for medical conditions; and 53% have children. Our sample allows us to assess the energy justice implications of weatherization in a way that past studies have not done. We describe the steps households took towards retrofits in the year following the CEA. By describing four pathways to weatherization, we identify factors that catalyze the uptake of the audit's recommendations and factors that hinder uptake. Half the participants took no steps towards weatherization, often because the CEA showed that the benefits of doing so did not justify the costs. But the other half engaged with the recommendations of the audit, taking steps towards implementing them. Cost-conscious households attempted some of the recommended changes on their own but often failed to complete them upon facing technical difficulties or by underestimating the scarcity of their time. Our findings suggest a form of energy poverty trap: weatherization is often out of reach for those who would benefit the most from it. One solution is for policymakers to build capacity for “do-it-yourself” (DIY) weatherization by providing region-specific guidance for common interventions like air sealing.
{"title":"When homeowners lose momentum after an energy audit: Barriers to completing weatherization in the United States Midwest","authors":"Claire McKenna , Carina Gronlund , Diana Hernández , Parth Vaishnav","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103979","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103979","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Home weatherization could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve residents' health and comfort. However, uptake in disadvantaged communities, which could benefit the most, is low. Here we assess barriers to weatherization in owner-occupied single-family homes in Michigan. We interview the heads of 40 households, each of which received comprehensive energy assessments (CEA). Half the households in our study have below-median incomes; 40% are energy insecure; 43% need additional heating or cooling for medical conditions; and 53% have children. Our sample allows us to assess the energy justice implications of weatherization in a way that past studies have not done. We describe the steps households took towards retrofits in the year following the CEA. By describing four pathways to weatherization, we identify factors that catalyze the uptake of the audit's recommendations and factors that hinder uptake. Half the participants took no steps towards weatherization, often because the CEA showed that the benefits of doing so did not justify the costs. But the other half engaged with the recommendations of the audit, taking steps towards implementing them. Cost-conscious households attempted some of the recommended changes on their own but often failed to complete them upon facing technical difficulties or by underestimating the scarcity of their time. Our findings suggest a form of energy poverty trap: weatherization is often out of reach for those who would benefit the most from it. One solution is for policymakers to build capacity for “do-it-yourself” (DIY) weatherization by providing region-specific guidance for common interventions like air sealing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103979"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143488321","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 : 2025-02-26DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104007
Pritish Behuria
Just transition discussions have been mainstreamed within global climate policy. Yet ‘just transition’ discussions have often overlooked production-based inequities. This paper argues that reducing attention to production inequities contributes to sustaining rent capture among European, North American and East Asian firms while reducing space for rents being used to enhance economic autonomy in African countries. ‘Just transition’ discussions are overshadowing how African countries have been adversely incorporated into the green division of labour in two ways, thereby reducing possibilities for effective rent management. First, African countries depend on the imports of solar panels, wind turbines and most other renewable energy technologies. Second, despite continued African hopes to invest in processing critical minerals, there remains inadequate assistance forthcoming from North America, Europe or East Asia. Instead, ‘Just transition’ advocates have focused on inequities associated with labour and loss of land, placing the onus on African countries to solve their own labour injustices resulting from energy transitions. While there is limited funding available to address within-country injustices, the anti-productivist bias within just transition discussions fail to address inter-country injustices either. Advocacy and momentum around ‘just transitions’ has side-lined attention to the injustice of Africa's adverse incorporation into the green division of labour.
{"title":"The injustice of just transitions: How the neglect of the green division of labour cements African dependencies","authors":"Pritish Behuria","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Just transition discussions have been mainstreamed within global climate policy. Yet ‘just transition’ discussions have often overlooked production-based inequities. This paper argues that reducing attention to production inequities contributes to sustaining rent capture among European, North American and East Asian firms while reducing space for rents being used to enhance economic autonomy in African countries. ‘Just transition’ discussions are overshadowing how African countries have been adversely incorporated into the green division of labour in two ways, thereby reducing possibilities for effective rent management. First, African countries depend on the imports of solar panels, wind turbines and most other renewable energy technologies. Second, despite continued African hopes to invest in processing critical minerals, there remains inadequate assistance forthcoming from North America, Europe or East Asia. Instead, ‘Just transition’ advocates have focused on inequities associated with labour and loss of land, placing the onus on African countries to solve their own labour injustices resulting from energy transitions. While there is limited funding available to address within-country injustices, the anti-productivist bias within just transition discussions fail to address inter-country injustices either. Advocacy and momentum around ‘just transitions’ has side-lined attention to the injustice of Africa's adverse incorporation into the green division of labour.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 104007"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143487720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104001
Júlio J. Conde , Harumi Takano-Rojas
Energy transition depends not only on technological and economic changes but is also deeply embedded in the complex social and cultural factors that shape it. However, existing reviews on energy perceptions often focus on psychological, economic, or policy-driven approaches, overlooking the symbolic and discursive dimensions shaping public understanding and engagement. To address this gap, this literature review examines the role of Social Representations Theory (SRT) in understanding societal perspectives on energy transition. Using content analysis, we synthesize and critically assess how SRT has been applied to examine the shared values, beliefs, and experiences that influence societal responses to energy policies and projects. Our findings highlight the theory's potential to uncover how different groups construct and negotiate meanings around energy transition. While SRT-based studies emphasize the importance of social acceptance, we identify a key limitation: an overemphasis on community acceptance of renewable energy without sufficiently questioning the broader socio-economic paradigms driving the energy transition. This review underscores the need for a holistic approach that integrates social, cultural, and political dimensions to address the complexities of energy transition, moving beyond a technological substitution perspective. By positioning SRT as a valuable framework for understanding the social aspects of energy transition, this study contributes to advancing interdisciplinary discussions and calls for further research incorporating diverse geographic and socio-political contexts.
{"title":"Rethinking energy transition: Approaches from social representations theory","authors":"Júlio J. Conde , Harumi Takano-Rojas","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Energy transition depends not only on technological and economic changes but is also deeply embedded in the complex social and cultural factors that shape it. However, existing reviews on energy perceptions often focus on psychological, economic, or policy-driven approaches, overlooking the symbolic and discursive dimensions shaping public understanding and engagement. To address this gap, this literature review examines the role of Social Representations Theory (SRT) in understanding societal perspectives on energy transition. Using content analysis, we synthesize and critically assess how SRT has been applied to examine the shared values, beliefs, and experiences that influence societal responses to energy policies and projects. Our findings highlight the theory's potential to uncover how different groups construct and negotiate meanings around energy transition. While SRT-based studies emphasize the importance of social acceptance, we identify a key limitation: an overemphasis on community acceptance of renewable energy without sufficiently questioning the broader socio-economic paradigms driving the energy transition. This review underscores the need for a holistic approach that integrates social, cultural, and political dimensions to address the complexities of energy transition, moving beyond a technological substitution perspective. By positioning SRT as a valuable framework for understanding the social aspects of energy transition, this study contributes to advancing interdisciplinary discussions and calls for further research incorporating diverse geographic and socio-political contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 104001"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143488322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-23DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103993
Jeroen Barrez
Public resistance remains a significant barrier to implementing the ambitious climate policies that are needed to limit global warming below 2 degrees. While numerous studies have explored public support for climate policies in general, this paper advances the understanding by investigating whether (lack of) support towards carbon pricing and climate policies is concentrated among specific societal groups. A latent class analysis identifies five distinct audience segments in Belgium based on similar climate attitudes and behavioural intentions: the Alarmed (6.9 %), Concerned (38.3 %), Cautious (36.1 %), Disengaged (15.2 %), and Doubtful (3.6 %), and explores the characteristics of these segments. This research also highlights the heterogeneity in preferences across subgroups and shows that belonging to one segment strongly predicts support for climate policies. The Alarmed are most in favour of these policies, while the Doubtful show the least support. More importantly, this study provides novel insights into the acceptability of carbon pricing policies across these subgroups and reveals how revenue use can make carbon pricing acceptable to segments with more sceptical climate attitudes. More specifically, while environmental earmarking risks resulting in “preaching to the converted”, using revenues for non-climate policies such as reducing labour taxes could make carbon pricing acceptable among the Doubtful and Disengaged segments and lessen the risk of social unrest and contestation. More generally, this research shows that considering the heterogeneity of public preferences offers novel insights, and could ultimately help policymakers design and implement more effective carbon pricing and climate policies.
{"title":"Seeking common ground? Heterogeneous support for carbon pricing and climate policies across audience segments","authors":"Jeroen Barrez","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103993","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103993","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public resistance remains a significant barrier to implementing the ambitious climate policies that are needed to limit global warming below 2 degrees. While numerous studies have explored public support for climate policies in general, this paper advances the understanding by investigating whether (lack of) support towards carbon pricing and climate policies is concentrated among specific societal groups. A latent class analysis identifies five distinct audience segments in Belgium based on similar climate attitudes and behavioural intentions: the Alarmed (6.9 %), Concerned (38.3 %), Cautious (36.1 %), Disengaged (15.2 %), and Doubtful (3.6 %), and explores the characteristics of these segments. This research also highlights the heterogeneity in preferences across subgroups and shows that belonging to one segment strongly predicts support for climate policies. The Alarmed are most in favour of these policies, while the Doubtful show the least support. More importantly, this study provides novel insights into the acceptability of carbon pricing policies across these subgroups and reveals how revenue use can make carbon pricing acceptable to segments with more sceptical climate attitudes. More specifically, while environmental earmarking risks resulting in “preaching to the converted”, using revenues for non-climate policies such as reducing labour taxes could make carbon pricing acceptable among the Doubtful and Disengaged segments and lessen the risk of social unrest and contestation. More generally, this research shows that considering the heterogeneity of public preferences offers novel insights, and could ultimately help policymakers design and implement more effective carbon pricing and climate policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103993"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143471637","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 : 2025-02-22DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103987
Jan Rosenow , Marc Stobbe , Sibylle Braungardt
This paper addresses the urgent need for reforming gas infrastructure planning in Europe to align with climate targets. Currently, gas grid development is reactive, driven by distribution system operators (DSOs), rather than proactively adapting to declining demand for fossil gas which is required in order to meet climate goals. Drawing on case studies from seven European countries, this paper explores gas grid regulation in the context of net zero. We find that current regulatory frameworks across many countries show a disconnect between infrastructure planning and the necessity to phase out fossil gas. There are, however, first steps being taken now to deal with the challenge of falling gas demand. We draw on those examples and develop policy recommendations for managing the transition away from fossil gas in a more coordinated and fairer way.
{"title":"Gas grid regulation in the context of net zero transitions: A review of seven European countries","authors":"Jan Rosenow , Marc Stobbe , Sibylle Braungardt","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103987","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103987","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper addresses the urgent need for reforming gas infrastructure planning in Europe to align with climate targets. Currently, gas grid development is reactive, driven by distribution system operators (DSOs), rather than proactively adapting to declining demand for fossil gas which is required in order to meet climate goals. Drawing on case studies from seven European countries, this paper explores gas grid regulation in the context of net zero. We find that current regulatory frameworks across many countries show a disconnect between infrastructure planning and the necessity to phase out fossil gas. There are, however, first steps being taken now to deal with the challenge of falling gas demand. We draw on those examples and develop policy recommendations for managing the transition away from fossil gas in a more coordinated and fairer way.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103987"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143471638","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-22DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103991
Thomas Zaragoza, Adel Noureddine, Ernesto Exposito
In light of escalating carbon emissions and the increasing pressures on energy production, we believe it is essential to examine both: 1. The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as either an enabler or a barrier to sustainability. 2. The role of human behavior, ranging from a contributing factor to energy consumption to a critical element in achieving energy optimizations. To address these factors, we conducted a systematic mapping study on software-based strategies for optimizing energy consumption, with a particular focus on incorporating human involvement in the process. Our findings indicate that ICT often serves as a facilitator of sustainability, especially in residential and commercial environments. However, the role of human behavior is more nuanced. By examining the energy optimization process as a loop consisting of four phases—monitoring, analysis, planning, and action—we found that human involvement spans multiple stages of this loop. While direct intervention in human behavior is commonly accepted and effective in residential contexts, this approach does not translate as directly to ICT, which tends to prioritize automated optimization. The aim of this paper is to raise awareness about these dynamics, explore how ICT is currently utilized to optimize energy use in residential settings, and suggest ways to adapt these approaches to make ICT itself more sustainable.
{"title":"A systematic mapping study on software approaches analyzing human behavior in energy efficiency","authors":"Thomas Zaragoza, Adel Noureddine, Ernesto Exposito","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103991","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103991","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In light of escalating carbon emissions and the increasing pressures on energy production, we believe it is essential to examine both: 1. The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as either an enabler or a barrier to sustainability. 2. The role of human behavior, ranging from a contributing factor to energy consumption to a critical element in achieving energy optimizations. To address these factors, we conducted a systematic mapping study on software-based strategies for optimizing energy consumption, with a particular focus on incorporating human involvement in the process. Our findings indicate that ICT often serves as a facilitator of sustainability, especially in residential and commercial environments. However, the role of human behavior is more nuanced. By examining the energy optimization process as a loop consisting of four phases—monitoring, analysis, planning, and action—we found that human involvement spans multiple stages of this loop. While direct intervention in human behavior is commonly accepted and effective in residential contexts, this approach does not translate as directly to ICT, which tends to prioritize automated optimization. The aim of this paper is to raise awareness about these dynamics, explore how ICT is currently utilized to optimize energy use in residential settings, and suggest ways to adapt these approaches to make ICT itself more sustainable.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103991"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143465068","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 : 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103995
Giovanna Sanchez Nieminen , Essi Laitinen
Amid escalating climate pressures, the war in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis have intensified the demand for renewable energy (RE) sources, accelerating the green energy transition across Europe. This transition is a multifaceted process that goes beyond decarbonization; it disrupts landscapes and is shaped by complex socio-political dynamics, often sparking conflicts at the local level during the planning and construction of RE infrastructures. These conflicts can delay or even obstruct critical energy projects and therefore, an investigation of the causes, core problems, and effects of conflicts is necessary to mediate and prevent them. As the first comprehensive review on local energy conflicts in the Nordic region, this systematic literature review investigates the dynamics of public opposition to RE projects across the Nordic countries. With the inclusion of 60 peer-reviewed articles from 2014 to 2024, we analyzed patterns of public opposition in the region, local conflict dynamics and identified key actors involved. Our findings indicate that local conflicts in the Nordics are multifaceted and driven by concerns over environmental impacts, visual disruption, distrust in regulatory processes, inadequate financial compensation, threats to cultural heritage, health risks, and social stress. By incorporating an energy conflict theoretical framework, we reveal that these conflicts are deeply intertwined with broader social tensions and moral concerns, emphasizing the necessity for equitable and culturally sensitive policies to foster a just energy transition in the Nordic region and beyond.
{"title":"Understanding local opposition to renewable energy projects in the nordic countries: A systematic literature review","authors":"Giovanna Sanchez Nieminen , Essi Laitinen","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103995","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103995","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Amid escalating climate pressures, the war in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis have intensified the demand for renewable energy (RE) sources, accelerating the green energy transition across Europe. This transition is a multifaceted process that goes beyond decarbonization; it disrupts landscapes and is shaped by complex socio-political dynamics, often sparking conflicts at the local level during the planning and construction of RE infrastructures. These conflicts can delay or even obstruct critical energy projects and therefore, an investigation of the causes, core problems, and effects of conflicts is necessary to mediate and prevent them. As the first comprehensive review on local energy conflicts in the Nordic region, this systematic literature review investigates the dynamics of public opposition to RE projects across the Nordic countries. With the inclusion of 60 peer-reviewed articles from 2014 to 2024, we analyzed patterns of public opposition in the region, local conflict dynamics and identified key actors involved. Our findings indicate that local conflicts in the Nordics are multifaceted and driven by concerns over environmental impacts, visual disruption, distrust in regulatory processes, inadequate financial compensation, threats to cultural heritage, health risks, and social stress. By incorporating an energy conflict theoretical framework, we reveal that these conflicts are deeply intertwined with broader social tensions and moral concerns, emphasizing the necessity for equitable and culturally sensitive policies to foster a just energy transition in the Nordic region and beyond.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103995"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143453673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-21DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.103989
Lorenza Tiberio , Benjamin Kirchler , Chiara Massullo , Giuseppe Carrus , Julia Haider , Andrea Kollmann , Federica Caffaro
Behavioural strategies to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainable habits have received increasing attention from economic, psychological, and social sciences. Among these, social norm-based interventions have been proposed as effective tools in psychological research. In this study, we employ a randomized control trial (RCT) to assess the effectiveness of a social norms intervention to encourage energy-saving behaviors among members of an energy cooperative in Italy (N = 442). Anonymised electricity consumption data were collected over one year covering both pre- and post-intervention periods. The intervention lasted eight weeks and involved the dissemination of social norm messages via the cooperative's newsletter. In the RCT, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group, the descriptive social norm group, received messages showing the average energy consumption of cooperative members to encourage behavioural change. The second group, the injunctive + descriptive social norm group, received messages combining average consumption data with additional messaging emphasising societal expectations for energy conservation. The third, which served as the control group, received no norm-based messaging and acted as a baseline for comparison.
Our results show a significant 13 % decrease in electricity consumption among participants exposed to the descriptive social norm message, compared to those in the injunctive + descriptive norms and control groups. This behavioural change also emerged from the findings of a post-intervention self-report survey, indicating consistency between reported and observed behavior.
{"title":"Unveiling the power of social norms interventions: Investigating energy savings behavior in an Italian energy cooperative","authors":"Lorenza Tiberio , Benjamin Kirchler , Chiara Massullo , Giuseppe Carrus , Julia Haider , Andrea Kollmann , Federica Caffaro","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103989","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.103989","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Behavioural strategies to reduce energy consumption and promote sustainable habits have received increasing attention from economic, psychological, and social sciences. Among these, social norm-based interventions have been proposed as effective tools in psychological research. In this study, we employ a randomized control trial (RCT) to assess the effectiveness of a social norms intervention to encourage energy-saving behaviors among members of an energy cooperative in Italy (<em>N</em> = 442). Anonymised electricity consumption data were collected over one year covering both pre- and post-intervention periods. The intervention lasted eight weeks and involved the dissemination of social norm messages via the cooperative's newsletter. In the RCT, participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. The first group, the descriptive social norm group, received messages showing the average energy consumption of cooperative members to encourage behavioural change. The second group, the injunctive + descriptive social norm group, received messages combining average consumption data with additional messaging emphasising societal expectations for energy conservation. The third, which served as the control group, received no norm-based messaging and acted as a baseline for comparison.</div><div>Our results show a significant 13 % decrease in electricity consumption among participants exposed to the descriptive social norm message, compared to those in the injunctive + descriptive norms and control groups. This behavioural change also emerged from the findings of a post-intervention self-report survey, indicating consistency between reported and observed behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"122 ","pages":"Article 103989"},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143465041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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