Executive summary

All policies depend, to some extent, on social acceptance. However, acceptance is especially critical with regards to climate policy in light of the urgency and need to rapidly accelerate climate action.

The deep decarbonization necessary across Nordic societies demands deep, wide-ranging changes. This can imply relatively large changes in the way that Nordic citizens go about their lives, ranging from how we move to how we heat our homes and what we eat. Such broad societal shifts require a high level of public support to be successful.

This report focuses on social acceptance in relation to two cases: 1) Wind power development, and 2) Fuel taxes. We believe, however, that many of the insights from this report also apply to other green transition initiatives. Similarly, even though our focus has been on Denmark, Finland, and Norway, the insights and recommendations also apply to the other Nordic countries.

The report is the culmination of the project “Social acceptance as a prerequisite for the green transition”, carried out by the following organizations: CONCITO (Denmark), CICERO (Norway) & Tyrsky Consulting (Finland). The work was commissioned by The Nordic Council of Ministers.

Social acceptance, status and challenges across the Nordic countries – wind power

Renewable energy technologies such as wind energy play an important role in providing sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels and achieving climate neutrality. Across the Nordic region, wind power has been an important component in renewable energy strategies over the past two decades, illustrated by significant expansions of wind energy capacities.

Social acceptance of wind power varies across Nordic countries and depends in part on the national context – e.g. prior experience with wind power development. In Denmark, there is a general positive attitude towards wind energy, but lack of community acceptance has slowed down the expansion. In Finland, public support for wind power has generally remained strong for the past few decades, but again, local acceptance towards specific projects is found to be significantly lower. And in Norway, there seems to be a more negative attitude towards wind than in the other Nordic countries, which resulted in a government moratorium on onshore wind from 2019–2022.

Across the Nordic countries, the challenges with regards to social acceptance for wind energy projects can be divided into three main categories:

Balancing benefits and negative impacts of wind energy projects. Impacts, how they are perceived, and how they are balanced with benefits play a crucial role in explaining local acceptance of wind power projects. Common concerns include distributional impacts, and environmental consequences, including concerns about landscape and nature preservation.
Sámi culture and reindeer herding. Northern parts of Finland, Norway and Sweden are attractive to wind power due to its sparse population and favorable wind conditions. However, it is also where Sápmi and reindeer herding areas are located, which creates challenges for balancing indigenous cultures, local livelihood, and wind power investments.
Community involvement and process transparency. Finally, a key factor that influences the degree of local opposition and community acceptance is how just and transparent the planning process is perceived to be by the local community, and how the procedures and their fairness are perceived.

Social acceptance, status and challenges across the Nordic countries – fuel taxes

Transportation emissions, especially those emitted from road transport, account for a substantial share of the Nordic countries’ territorial emissions. One of the most cost-effective tools to reduce emissions is the taxation of CO₂-emissions from fuel. Fuel taxes are, however, also unpopular. They impose direct and, therefore, very salient costs on consumers, of whom many are skeptical of the environmental benefits of fuel taxation, as well as concerned with their distributional impacts. As such, ensuring public support for initiatives targeting these emissions is an essential part of the path towards climate neutrality in the Nordic region.

Public support for fuel taxes is comparatively high across the Nordic countries but with important differences among them. In Denmark, a recent general survey shows a relatively high support for fuel taxes. However, there is a lack of specific knowledge about citizens’ attitudes towards fuel taxes. The public perception seems to be that private cars are overtaxed. In Finland, attitudes towards fuel taxation appear to be divided, with attitudes towards fuel and energy taxes varying significantly across different political groups, and the price of fuel has been debated a lot in politics during the recent years. In Norway, the general level of support for fuel (carbon) taxes is relatively high (though somewhat lower than in at least some of the other Nordic countries). Interestingly, Norwegian survey results seem to indicate a slight trend of polarization, with both strong support and strong opposition increasing somewhat over the years.

Fairness and perceived effectiveness are key determinants of public support for fuel taxes. The use of the tax revenues also has a strong impact on the level of support. These two main challenges are also highlighted across the Nordic countries:

Distributive fairness and rural-urban divide. Concerns for citizens living in car-dependent rural areas is an issue raised particularly frequently across the Nordic countries. In urban areas, alternative transportation options, as well as shorter distances and better access to EV charging make it easier to switch away from fossil fuel vehicles, whereas it is generally more challenging in rural areas.
Perceived effectiveness of taxation. The effectiveness of a tax should be seen in relation to its stated goal, in this case to lower emissions from road transport through reduced fuel use. There is a perception of fuel taxes being ineffective in driving change across the Nordics.

Lessons learned and ways forward

Social acceptance issues need to be addressed wisely, if the Nordic region wants to remain a green frontrunner. As the findings in this project show, considerations about social acceptance shape local and national policies and decisions with regards to wind power development and fuel taxes.

Based on insights from the literature and the virtual workshops, the main cross-Nordic lessons learned are:

The need for holistic perspectives, planning and shared visions. Green energy initiatives, such as wind and solar power, inevitably require land and compete with other land uses. These competing needs, and the diverse set of stakeholders associated with them, often result in a lack of social acceptance towards green transition initiatives in general. The same logic applies to fuel taxation. As such, we see a need for clear communication, shared Nordic visions, and providing decision makers with examples of successful policy mixes.
The importance of navigating and addressing existing divides in society. Green transition initiatives risk tapping into existing grievances and inequalities and are received accordingly by the affected citizens. We suggest more research on, and experimentation with, compensation mechanisms, sharing and scaling with benefit-sharing practices, ensuring local anchorage of green transition initiatives, increasing knowledge about and attractiveness of sustainable alternatives, and identifying successful Nordic and international examples of earmarking.
Ensuring involvement and democracy. Especially relevant for wind power and similar local green transition initiatives, everything points to involvement as a key to ensuring social acceptance (in particular early community engagement). Going forward, the focus needs to be on early engagement and transparent communication, experimenting with different forms of engagement, and improving competencies for citizen involvement.

Across all three, we also refer to the recently published Nordic Toolbox for a Just Green Transition and the recommendations therein (“Checklist for policymakers”).

Finally, we see an excellent opportunity to use the social climate plans introduced in ETS2 as a lever for change.