Opposition to renewable energy projects driven more by local concerns than political populism

Opposition to renewable energy projects in Germany is being driven more by local concerns than by right-wing populism, a new study by researchers at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam has found.

The study, which was published in the Energy Strategy Reviews journal, saw researchers undertake 36 interviews with representatives from politics, government, and civil society, combining this with survey data on public attitudes to examine concerns about renewable energy projects.

It focused on seven contested projects, five wind projects and two grid expansion projects, spread across six German federal states. None of these projects have been completed to date, due to opposition from local and regional groups.

Co-opting opposition movements

As the researchers found, while the right-wing AfD and other political parties have sought to ‘co-opt’ these opposition movements, this has largely proven unsuccessful, as local initiatives were generally unwilling to collaborate with said parties, with the AfD in particular viewed with suspicion.

Instead, community groups were more likely to voice frustrations with how decisions were made, claiming that their perspectives were not sufficiently considered.

“The energy transition enjoys widespread support among the population in Germany,” commented lead author Jörg Radtke.

“Nevertheless, renewable energy projects often meet with local resistance. Our research aimed to gauge the influence of right-wing populists on these protests. After all, at the national level, it is only the AfD and other right-wing populist groups that fundamentally oppose efforts to expand renewables.”

Populist rhetoric

Populist rhetoric is evident in terms of the broader opposition to renewable energy projects, however, the study noted, with themes of anti-elitism and mistrust of institutions widespread on a national level. This also incorporates a distrust of city-dwellers by rural inhabitants.

“We see this, for example, in our case study from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where citizens are calling for referendums on energy projects and denouncing an alleged ‘sham democracy’ in which their concerns and objections are ignored,” added co-author David Löw-Beer.

Read the full report, Unpacking local energy conflicts: Drivers, narratives, and dynamics of right-wing populism and local resistance to energy transitions in Germany, here.