{"title":"Regional dynamics of public attitudes toward climate change policy, regulatory strategies, and the energy transition in the United States","authors":"Praise Ayotola Ayinla , Lyudmyla Tsykalova , Chien-Fei Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104291","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104291","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Achieving substantial decarbonization in the United States requires broad public support across diverse regions, yet the geographic outline of policy endorsement remain underexplored. Addressing this gap, we analyze nationally representative survey data to assess attitudes toward renewable energy investment, carbon regulation, climate education, and fossil fuel development in eight U.S. regions. Grounded in polycentric governance theory, our approach links regional preferences to local economic dependencies and environmental priorities. Results show significant regional disparities: support for prioritizing clean energy development is highest in the Northeast at 69.1 % and lowest in the Northern Great Plains at 55.3 %. Northeastern and Northwestern residents strongly favor renewable energy, carbon regulation, and climate change education, whereas the Great Plains regions exhibit weaker backing for these policies and greater support for fossil fuel expansion. These findings highlight the political geography of the U.S. and energy transition, suggesting a one-size-fits-all federal climate strategy may overlook regional realities. This study recommends tailoring climate strategies to regional economic contexts to enhance policy durability. By incorporating regional opinion dynamics, this study advances understanding of how public attitudes can enable or constrain national climate goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104291"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144893398","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}
Johannes Emmerling , Laurent Drouet , Jessica Jewell , Lola Nacke , Sandeep Pai , Hisham Zerriffi
{"title":"Green jobs and just transition: Employment implications of Europe's Net Zero pathway","authors":"Johannes Emmerling , Laurent Drouet , Jessica Jewell , Lola Nacke , Sandeep Pai , Hisham Zerriffi","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104292","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104292","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The European Green Deal promises a “just and inclusive transition” to net-zero emissions by 2050, but employment implications remain poorly quantified. We address how Europe's net-zero transition affects energy sector employment and whether current policies ensure a just transition for affected workers. While the net-zero transition creates substantial net employment gains, we argue that significant mismatches in skills, geography, and timing require more targeted policy interventions than currently provided. Using the WITCH integrated assessment model coupled with global employment factors, we estimate changes across five job categories and eleven energy technologies for EU member states under current policies and the Net Zero emission target by 2050. Results show Europe's energy jobs increase substantially by 2050: from 1.3 million today to over 2 million under current policies and 2.5–3 million under Net Zero. Renewable energy accounts for 80 % of total energy jobs by 2050 under Net Zero, with solar PV representing three-quarters of job growth due to high labor intensity, while wind contributes 15 %. However, 300,000 jobs are lost in the coal and oil sectors under Net Zero (versus 100,000 under current policies), concentrated in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. We also analyze the EU Just Transition Fund allocations to assess policy alignment and find a policy emphasis on addressing fossil fuel phase-out impacts rather than facilitating workforce transition to renewable energy. While coal-dependent countries receive substantial funding, critical gaps exist in skills development programs necessary for renewable energy expansion.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104292"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144893399","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}
{"title":"How a social practice approach could improve government-supported decarbonisation initiatives for small and medium-sized enterprises","authors":"Aoife Maher , Francesca Boyd , Steffen Böhm","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104301","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104301","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The ongoing scramble to reach net-zero has prompted many nations globally to implement targeted support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to decarbonise and enable participation in the just climate transition. Using social practice theory and Maréchal and Holzemer's ‘grips’ framework as conceptual lenses, we consider the role and efficacy of policy interventions in driving the SME net-zero transition. This study examines the available evidence on how government-supported initiatives, particularly within a UK case study context, aid SMEs to understand, measure, and act on carbon emissions. Policy efforts to support SMEs towards decarbonisation are evaluated through a systematic PRISMA literature review of academic literature and by using a novel approach towards a systematic grey literature review. Review findings reveal that: 1) overreliance on evidence from quantitative surveys, which are largely decoupled from interventions, and small-sample qualitative approaches has limited our understanding of the impact of government-supported initiatives' progress towards decarbonisation; 2) despite limited evidence of the efficacy of recent intervention design, decarbonisation initiatives continue to rely on a narrow suite of information and behaviour change tools, rather than robust, practice-orientated interventions to support a diverse SME population; 3) disconnection between policy design and research design discourages medium- to long-term evaluation of the impact of interventions; 4) by using the ‘grips’ framework as a conceptual guide, this study offers a reimagining of government-supported initiatives as systemic rather than individualistic to support SMEs to embed decarbonisation activity within everyday practices, in order to create enduring, meaningful progress towards net-zero.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104301"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144892043","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}
Erwin van Tuijl , Martin de Jong , Peter Knorringa , Emma Björner , Sara Brorström
{"title":"Invisible hands in energy transitions: installers in the European post-industrial cities of Gothenburg and Rotterdam","authors":"Erwin van Tuijl , Martin de Jong , Peter Knorringa , Emma Björner , Sara Brorström","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104290","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104290","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper focuses on the specific role of installers, a category of often overlooked diffusion intermediaries doing the actual implementation of energy transitions. We adopt an ecosystems perspective and aim to provide new knowledge on the installers' role in energy transitions, possible changes in this role, and the challenges installers face. Based on evidence from case studies in Gothenburg and Rotterdam, we first show how installers make or break energy transitions. They differ from other intermediaries in their long-term trust relations with customers, their deep contextual knowledge, and involvement in post-technology deployment. We unveil new nuances regarding downstream (installers deploy strategies to include budget-constrained customers in energy transitions) and upstream actors (installers face manufacturers' lock-ins and are trained by wholesalers and manufacturers). Secondly, we show challenges installers face caused by regulatory, market and technological dynamics in transitions, and identify new roles for them as <em>IT-specialists</em>, <em>manufacturers</em> and <em>holistic advisors</em>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104290"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144889609","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}
{"title":"Oil shocks and trade networks: How Israel, South Korea, and Poland leveraged oil imports to access new regional markets","authors":"Nizan Feldman , Elai Rettig , Ziv Rubinovitz","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104285","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104285","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Studies on oil price shocks focus either on their macroeconomic consequences or on their effects on bilateral political relations between major oil suppliers and consumers. However, they overlook the effect of these shocks on second-degree political and economic relations created through oil trade on the margins of the market. This study examines how periods of price shocks in the global oil markets allow non-major oil importers to increase their degree of centrality within new trade networks. It argues that the importer's need for oil serves as a strategic entry point into previously inaccessible regional markets, turning its connections with new client-seeking oil producers into a central node from which it can access broader regional trade networks connected to that oil producer. This, in turn, facilitates the establishment of additional economic and political connections that persist after oil prices restabilize. The study argues that crude oil encourages such connections more directly than other traded commodities due to its geographical dispersion and critical role in national security considerations. To support these arguments, the study employs social network analysis and difference-in-differences methods to examine how Israel, South Korea, and Poland accessed new trade networks during global oil shocks in the 1970s, 1980s, and 2010s. For Israel and South Korea, Ecuador became a trusted supplier through which they could access new markets in Latin America. For Poland, oil trade with Nigeria allowed it to enter West African markets as it sought to diversify its oil imports following the Russian invasion of Crimea.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104285"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144880320","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}
{"title":"Beyond the numbers: How green transitions can prioritise rural communities to ensure a more just transition","authors":"Hilma Salonen","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104287","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104287","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The green transition positions the Nordic rural areas as central resources for energy production, yet its top-down nature risks alienating rural communities, growing a sense of powerlessness. Extracting certain benefits from green transitions is not enough to ensure fairness; it is vital to examine which local benefits are connected to which experiences justness. The current just transition frameworks often emphasize quantifiable benefits, such as job creation and tax revenues, over more complex aspects of justice relevant to diverse social groups. This article examines which dimensions of just transitions translate effectively into local land-use negotiations, and which are at risk of being overlooked.</div><div>The empirical focus is on case studies of wind park developments in two regions of Finland and studies what types of local benefits foster community acceptance of these developments, and how they impact perceptions of justice. The results uncover disparities in how different aspects of justice are implemented and argue that while procedural and distributive justice measures are more readily translated into policy actions, aspects like recognitional and restorative justice risk falling to the wayside. Ultimately, this article highlights the need for long-term community building over purely economic metrics to reach the Nordic climate goals in an inclusive way.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104287"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144880322","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}
Chris Morris , Forrest Stagner , J. Arbuckle , Frank Montabon , Michael Helbing , Clare Hinrichs , Lara Fowler
{"title":"Growing gas on the farm? Stakeholder perspectives on divergent models of biogas production in the United States","authors":"Chris Morris , Forrest Stagner , J. Arbuckle , Frank Montabon , Michael Helbing , Clare Hinrichs , Lara Fowler","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104255","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104255","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The agricultural sector has shown increasing interest in on-farm anaerobic digestion (OFAD) systems that convert livestock manure into biogas and digestate co-products. This study examined a potential OFAD supply chain that would use perennial crops, double crops, and other soil-building crops as the primary feedstocks (in addition to or instead of manure) for biogas production. More widespread use of such OFAD systems could enhance soil and water conservation, the economic vitality of rural communities, and climate change adaptation and mitigation, but could also potentially have unintended negative social, economic, and environmental consequences. This research investigated stakeholder synergies and conflicts regarding OFAD technology to inform its development trajectory and promote more sustainable outcomes. To better understand stakeholder perspectives, the research team conducted 36 in-depth interviews with 53 representatives from state- and national-level organizations associated with OFAD, using a theoretical framework combining multi-level sustainability transitions and technology legitimacy perspectives to guide data analysis. The analysis of stakeholder perspectives identified techno-economic, political and institutional, and social and cognitive mechanisms that contribute to the lock-in of large, manure-based digesters while keeping alternative OFAD arrangements in niche-level development stages. Additionally, areas of alignment and misalignment between stakeholder organizations were identified that potentially impact the legitimacy and growth of these innovative technologies. Findings from this research offer insights for policymakers and other stakeholders on how to understand the successes of dominant technologies, such as manure-only OFAD, to foster the growth and uptake of innovative niche technologies, such as herbaceous OFAD, that could provide additional sustainability benefits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104255"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144865693","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}
{"title":"Integrating cultural and spiritual restoration into mine closure: The case of wayside shrines and crosses","authors":"Kamila Svobodova","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104289","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104289","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As the energy transition accelerates, coal regions face increasing pressure to phase out and adopt new development pathways. The success of these transitions depends not only on economic and environmental transformation but also on the recovery of culturally significant places. This study explores cultural and spiritual restoration as part of mine closure planning to foster cultural continuity and strengthen local identity. Focusing on the Most region in the Czech Republic, a historically significant coal and energy production area, the study maps and documents wayside shrines and crosses that have been preserved, demolished, or relocated due to mining. Through a combination of GIS mapping, archival and museum research, field surveys, and stakeholder consultations, 162 such objects were identified, revealing patterns of displacement and grassroots heritage preservation. The findings highlight the need for mine closure strategies to incorporate the recovery of cultural heritage alongside environmental rehabilitation. Restoring or symbolically reinterpreting lost landmarks can foster a sense of place and social cohesion. Beyond cultural preservation, these sites can evolve into hubs for cultural exchange, education, and local entrepreneurship, supporting broader economic and social regeneration. This study advocates for a more holistic approach to mine closure planning as an integral part of a just transition toward new energy pathways. One that integrates participatory GIS, community-led heritage initiatives, and adaptive reuse of cultural elements. By transforming places of loss into symbols of resilience and renewal, communities can reconnect to post-mining landscapes, ensuring they remain culturally vibrant and socially meaningful.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104289"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144865708","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}
{"title":"Pathways towards just transitions in the Global South","authors":"Johanna Gather , Martin Prowse , Daniel Seussler","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104293","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104293","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As global decarbonization efforts accelerate, ensuring a just transition has become a critical objective, especially in low- and middle-income countries where climate action intersects with entrenched development challenges. This study uses a realist review and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of 80 interventions across 76 studies to identify the configurations of financial, institutional, and governance conditions that contribute towards just transitions in developing countries. We find seven distinct causal pathways, with robust funding and strategic planning emerging as universally necessary conditions. Surprisingly, factors often considered essential—such as stakeholder engagement and policy alignment—are not consistently present. Complementary fractional logistic regression reinforces the centrality of funding and planning, while underscoring the limited predictive power of single variables. Our findings highlight the configurational and context-dependent nature of just transition outcomes. By illuminating diverse pathways to inclusive decarbonization, this article contributes to bridging the empirical gap in understanding transition policy in developing countries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104293"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144865707","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}
Manuel Ebner , Aya Kachi , Ekaterina Rhodes , Kevin Andrew
{"title":"Climate action close to home: The role of public attitudes and policy responses in reducing greenhouse gas emissions","authors":"Manuel Ebner , Aya Kachi , Ekaterina Rhodes , Kevin Andrew","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104264","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.erss.2025.104264","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There has been a sharp increase in sub-national climate mitigation initiatives since the 2000s. However, the impact of these initiatives on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remains unclear. In this study, we construct a panel combining emissions data with local climate policies reported to transnational municipal networks, and public opinion data for 218 European Union sub-national regions for the years 2010–2019. We use this dataset to test if public attitudes towards climate change influence the provision of local climate policies and whether these policies contribute to emissions reductions. Our analysis finds a positive association between local climate policy and local public sentiments such as climate change concern, economic optimism linked to policies, and perceived responsibility of the government. We also find that the adoption of local climate policies significantly reduces GHG emissions per capita in these regions in the long run. Finally, local policies are especially effective in achieving emission reductions in stringent national climate policy contexts, but local policy-makers are found to provide more policies if national climate policies are lax.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":"127 ","pages":"Article 104264"},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144865706","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}