Megaprojects on ice: lessons from the Kárahnjúkar hydropower project for a Just Transition

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Kárahnjúkar dam, power station and aluminium smelter opened in East Iceland in 2007 after many years of debate and discord. It is the largest ever industrial project in Iceland and had national as well as local implications, both responding to and in turn changing public expectations regarding participation, environmental impact assessment and community engagement. As Iceland seeks to harness an increasing supply of renewable energy, questions are raised about what constitutes a just transition in the Icelandic context. The article begins by discussing energy supply and demand, current and projected in Iceland. It then delves into theoretical accounts of just transition. It explores the decision-making process for the Kárahnjúkar project and the longer term impacts on the region before assessing these within the framework of just transition theory. A discussion follows that delivers insights into key aspects of the just transition that can be applied to new projects both in Iceland and further afield. These pertain in particular to employment and community benefits, environmental impact assessment and public participation.KEYWORDS: Just transitionArcticIcelandmegaprojectspublic participationenvironmental impact assessment (EIA) Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 * Field research for this article was funded by a grant under the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Arctic Co-operation Programme for the project Towards a socially just transition in the Arctic: Exploring, theorizing and disseminating best practice in meaningful stakeholder engagement for communities (project number A21751; principal investigator Karin Buhmann). The authors thank the individuals interviewed for their time and the information shared, Ragnheiður Elfa Þorsteinsdóttir, University of Akureyri, for important background research and feedback as the paper developed, and both Ragnheiður and Sanne Vammen Larsen, University of Southern Denmark for their participation and insights during the fieldwork. We also thank the two anonymous reviewers and the guest editor of this special issue for insightful comments and suggestions that enabled us to clarify some of our arguments. All errors remain the responsibility of the named authors.2 “Bechtel. ‘Fjardaál Aluminum Smelter, Iceland’; Alcoa, Citation2021 Samfélagsskýrsla 28–29.3 See, e.g. Heffron, Achieving a Just Transition; Wood-Donnelly and Ohlsson, eds., Arctic Justice; and Cambou, ‘Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition’.4 Heffron, Achieving a Just Transition.5 Ibid.6 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Citation1966.7 Ragnheiður Elfa Þorsteinsdóttir, University of Akureyri, and Sanne Vammen Larsen, University of Southern Denmark. Both also form part of the wider research team exploring the Kárahnjúkar case as well as some other issues under the research grant noted in the Acknowledgements.8 The interviewees were advised that they would not be named but that, given the small size of Icelandic society, it might be possible for others familiar with the case to identify the source of any statement. In the cases where a direct attribution to an interview source is cited, the participants were given the opportunity to review and correct the text.9 Statistics Iceland, ‘Population’.10 See Martinez Cobo (Citation1987), Study of the Problem of Discrimination, para 379 (for the most commonly referenced definition of Indigenous Peoples).11 Iceland Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Störf án staðsetningar.12 National Planning Agency of Iceland, Kárahnjúkavirkjun allt að 750 MW fyrri áfangi allta að 625 MW og síðari áfangi allt að 125 MW (Kárahnjúkar EIA), 36.13 Ibid, 37; see also Statistics Iceland, ‘Hlutur atvinnugreina í landsframleiðslu 1997-2022’.14 Kárahnjúkar EIA, 37.15 Orkustofnun, Energy Statistics in Iceland, 4.16 Benediktsson, ‘Conflicting Imaginaries in the Energy Transition?’; Stober and Bucher, Geothermal Energy, 15–24.17 Iceland Renewable Energy Cluster, ‘Hydropower’, and ‘Geothermal’.18 Green by Iceland, ‘Hydropower’.19 Law on Electricity, 1946.20 See, e.g. Gunnlaugsson, Ólafsdóttir and Óttarson Proppe, Vindorka: Valkostir og greining.21 Orkustofnun, Energy Statistics in Iceland, 6; and Iceland Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Staða og áskoranir í orkumálum, 105, 116 and 118.22 Landsvirkjun (Citation2022), Gunnur grænna samfélags, 4.23 Iceland Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Staða og áskoranir í orkumálum, 27–28; ‘Orkuskiptalíkan’.24 Iceland Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Staða og áskoranir í orkumálum, 27–28.25 Landsvirkjun, ‘Raunsæ mynd af orkuþörf’.26 Iceland Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Staða og áskoranir í orkumálum, 52 and 105.27 Ibid, 119.28 Ibid.29 Wang and Lo, ‘Just Transition: a Conceptual Review’; Heffron and McCauley, ‘What is the “Just Transition”?’.30 Wang and Lo, ibid.31 García-García, Carpintero and Buendía, ‘Just Energy Transitions’; Stevis and Felli, ‘Global Labour Unions’.32 Wang and Lo, ‘Just Transition: a Conceptual Review’.33 Stevis and Felli, ‘Global Labour Unions’.34 See e.g. Heffron, Achieving a Just Transition.35 See e.g. Rowell, ‘Sámi Wind Turbine Protest’; Cambou, ‘Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition’.36 Buhmann, et al., ‘Towards Socially Sustainable Renewable Energy Projects’.37 Heffron, Achieving a Just Transition.38 Cambou, ‘Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition’; Wang and Lo, ‘Just Transition: a Conceptual Review’.39 See e.g. Cambou, ‘Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition’; Statsnett SF v Sør-Fosen Sijte and others (Fosen judgment).40 United Nations Human Rights Council, Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.41 United Nations General Assembly, Transforming Our World, art. 67.42 Buhmann, ‘Human Rights and Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement’; Mestad, ‘The Voice of Affected Persons in the OECD Guidelines and Guidance Documents’.43 e.g., Fosen judgment; Kochale and others v Lake Turkana Wind Power Ltd and others.44 e.g., Cambou, ‘Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition’; Buhmann et al., ‘Towards Socially Sustainable Renewable Energy Projects’.45 Nenasheva, et al., ‘Legal Tools of Public Participation’.46 Skorstand, Dale and Bay-Larsen, ‘Governing Complexity’, 28.47 Merrild Hansen and Johnstone, ‘In the Shadow of the Mountain’.48 Skrydstrup and Buhmann, ‘Vært for UNESCO Verdensarv’.49 Bjørst, Sejersen and Thisted, ‘Affective Approaches: Rethinking Emotions in Resource Extraction’, 153.50 Ibid, 146.51 Ólafsson, et al., Áfangaskýrsla I, 25–26.52 Ibid, 20.53 Law on Electricity, 1981; see also, Ólafsson, Áfangaskýrsla I, 20.54 Ólafsson, Áfangaskýrsla I, 22.55 Ibid, 23.56 Ibid, 24; see also, Government of Iceland, Yfirlýsing um Noralverkefnið.57 Ólafsson, Áfangaskýrsla I, 25.58 Ibid, 29–30.59 Ibid, 30.60 Law on Authorisation of Contracts for an Aluminium Smelter in Reyðarfjörður, 2003.61 See, Alcoa, ‘Iceland: Yfirlit’.62 EIA is usually traced back to the US National Environmental Policy Act Citation1969.63 Convention on the Protection of the Environment with Protocol Citation1974; Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context 1991.64 EC Council Directive 85/337/EEC.65 Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, 1993.66 EC Directive 2003/35/EC.67 Law on Environmental Impact Assessment, 1993, article 5(1).68 See, Alþingi, Proposal for Parliamentary Resolution.69 See Alþingi Citation1999.70 Landsvirkjun, Kárahnjúkarvirkjun: framkvænd skilyrða fyrir virkjunarleyfi, 4.71 Information provided by lawyer, East Iceland, December 3, 2021.72 National Planning Agency of Iceland, Kárahnjúkavirkjun allt að 750 MW, 278.73 See, Iceland Ministry of the Environment, Decision overturning the Decision of the National Planning Agency.74 Ibid, 4 and 6.75 Ibid, 6.76 Ibid, 122–124.77 Alþingi, Proposal for Law on the Power Station.78 Law on the Power Station at Jökulsár á Brú and Jökulsár í Fljótsdal and the Enlargement of the Krafla Power Station, 2002.79 Information provided by community representative, East Iceland, December 3, 2021.80 Jóhannesson, Heiðarson and Sigurbjarnarson, Social Impacts of an Aluminium Plant in East Iceland 2002-2008, 11.81 Ólafsson, Rannsókn á samfélagsáhrifum álversog virkjunaramkvæmda á Austurlandi.82 Ibid, 37, image 3.15.83 Ibid, 40–41, images 3.20 and 3.21.84 Ibid, 41–42.85 Information provided by community representative, East Iceland, December 3, 2021.86 Information provided by employee of the National Power Company of Iceland, December 2, 2021.87 Information provided by community representative, East Iceland, December 3, 2021.88 See, e.g. McAfefe, et al., ‘Environmental Solutions Fast-Tracked’; Wright and Tolson, The Value of Early Engagement in Planning.89 Fjarðarbyggð, ‘Fjarðarbyggð í tölum’.90 Alcoa, 2021 Samfélagsskýrsla, 28, table 4.91 Statistics Iceland, ‘Mannfjöldi eftir landshlutum, kyni og aldri 1. janúar 1998-2023’.92 Alcoa, 2021 Samfélagsskýrsla, 29, image 10.93 Alcoa, ‘Jafnréttisstefna Alcoa Fjarðaáls’; see also, Alcoa, Citation2021 Samfélagsskýrsla, 29, image 9 (for numbers).94 Alcoa, 2021 Samfélagsskýrsla, 29, image 10.95 Ibid. In 2021, there were 64 women under 30 and 41 men under 30. However, only one year before, the pattern was reversed with 64 female employees under 30 and 89 male employees under 30.96 Alcoa, ‘Jafnréttisstefna Alcoa Fjarðaáls’, 2.97 Alcoa, 2021 Samfélagsskýrsla, 33, table 7; Alcoa, ‘Forstjóri og framkvæmdastjórn Alcoa Fjarðaáls’, (only one of the ten senior management positions is held by a woman).98 Alcoa, 2021 Samfélagsskýrsla, 28.99 Information provided by employee of the East Iceland Nature Research Centre, December 2, 2021.100 Seljan, ‘Alcoa lét undan þrýstingi og borgar jafnvel tekjuskatt strax í ár’.101 Norðurál, ‘Raforkukaup Norðuráls’.102 Alcoa, 2021 Samfélagsskýrsla, 41.103 Statistics Iceland, ‘Hlutur atvinnugreina í landsframleiðslu 1997–2022’; ‘Fjöldi herbergja og rúma á hótelum eftir landsvæðum 2015–2023’; and ‘Gistinætur og gestakomur á öllum tegundum gististaða eftir sveitarfélögum 2008–2021’.104 Merrild Hansen and Johnstone, ‘In the Shadow of the Mountain’, 486.105 Information provided by employee of the Austurbrú, December 2, 2021. Austurbrú is a non-governmental organisation consisting of 30 member organisations. These include local authorities, universities, junior colleges, professional bodies and trade unions.106 Information provided by employee of the National Power Company of Iceland, October 13, 2021; and employee of the National power Company, December 2, 2021.107 Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, 1998.108 Landsvirkjun, ‘Sjálfbærni’.109 Information provided by employee of the National Power Company of Iceland, October 13, 2021; see also, Landsvirkun, ‘Skipurit’.110 Information provided by employee of East Iceland Nature Research Centre, December 2, 2021.111 Johnson, Kitchens and Gray, ‘Opinion: Facebook Serves as an Echo Chamber, especially for Conservatives’.112 Information provided by employee of East Iceland Nature Research Centre, December 2, Citation2021.113 Heffron, Achieving a Just Transition; and discussion in section 3 above, accompanying note 37.114 Compare Owen, et al., ‘Fast Track to Failure?’.115 See, e.g. Norton, ‘Achieving Excellence in Public Participation and Consultation’ (on different strategies for effective public engagement).116 Bjørst, Sejersen and Thisted, ‘Affective Approaches: Rethinking Emotions in Resource Extraction’, 153; see also section 3, above.117 See Steenstrup, et al., Visjonsrapport (for an example of town strategic planning based on extensive public engagement in anticipation of a megaproject).118 See, e.g. Austurbrú, ‘Brothættar byggðir’.119 See, e.g. Penny Norton, ‘Achieving Excellence in Public Participation and Consultation’; Skjervedal, ‘Youth as a Resource in Extractive Industry Decision-Making Processes’; Merrild Hansen and Johnstone, ‘Arctic Voices: Strategies for Community Engagement’.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers' Arctic Co-operation Programme [Project No A21751].