Consensus and Conflict in the Energy Transition

Background and Rationale

Sweden has long displayed an unusually strong consensus regarding the need for ambitious climate and energy policies. This has created favourable conditions for the transition towards a fossil‑free energy system. However, when national goals are operationalised, friction emerges as values, priorities, and interests collide. The transition produces both winners and losers, and such distributional effects can undermine trust, generate resistance, and weaken political capacity. The project takes this paradox as its entry point: strong formal consensus – yet increasing practical friction.

Scope and Research Questions

The overarching aim is to analyse how consensus and conflict shape the energy transition’s pace, direction, and legitimacy. The project examines relationships among key actors – policymakers, public officials, firms, experts, and citizens – and how tensions between facts, values, and institutions influence governance and decision‑making. Its goal is to develop new theoretical and empirical insights that strengthen capacities to manage conflict, build legitimacy, and accelerate the transition.

Research Challenge

Existing research has examined specific components of the energy transition, but often lacks a system‑level perspective on how actor relations, norms, and conflicts of interest shape transition dynamics. As a result, the knowledge base underpinning policy risks becoming fragmented. This project addresses this gap by combining political science and transition studies within a unified analytical framework.

Approach and Methodology

The project brings together researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, the University of Gothenburg, and RISE within a coherent interdisciplinary research agenda. The work draws on advanced qualitative and quantitative methods, including discourse network analysis, text analysis, and experimental design studies. Through international comparative analysis, the project also generates knowledge relevant beyond the Swedish context.

Impact and Contribution

The project delivers tools, analytical frameworks, and evidence‑based insights for policymakers, public authorities, businesses, and civil society. By clarifying how relationships, conflicts, and perceptions of fairness influence political action, the project supports a faster, more legitimate, and more effective energy transition – in Sweden and internationally