• Energy Research

In 2018, thanks to the use of social media, the Fridays for Future (FFF) movement brought global attention to climate change. However, in the post-Covid era, the rhetoric of a return to normality seems to have marginalized those issues from the media debate. Looking at the emergence of FFF, the paper applies topic detection to analyze 19,112 tweets on climate change. The emerging contents of social representations are examined in relation to sociocultural (power distance; individualism; uncertainty avoidance; long-term orientation) and structural (level of pollution) factors associated with the country of origin of the tweets. The primary topic among those identified focuses on calls to action, particularly related to the FFF movement. When this topic is absent, others address efforts to mitigate global warming or strategies for adapting to climate change impacts. The main results indicate that tweets from the most polluted countries and from countries high in short-term orientation are more centered on topics concerning a posteriori response to climate change, also denying it as a defense mechanism. This could prevent imagining alternative futures and the projection of concrete means of countering climate change. The study suggests the importance of transcending the on-line and off-line distinction, not only for mobilization but also to form an arena for debate toward social change.

The present paper provides a systematic overview of the way decarbonisation has been treated in social sciences in recent years. Titles and keywords of 404 papers, published from 2015 to June 2020, and indexed in the Scopus database, were submitted to lexicometric and bibliometric analyses. Results confirm that decarbonisation has become a key term in social sciences research on energy, with a growing number of articles published by interdisciplinary journals. Key terms associated with decarbonisation shifted their focus from issues connected with production to broader themes related to sustainability and solutions. Governance, discourse in the social arena and public opinion are the main semantic associated areas emerging from the selected sample. Themes included in these areas range from biophysical and technological risks to social movements, issues of justice, and visions of the future. The overall picture detected in the current study poses further questions and suggests possible research paths concerning the voices and themes at the centre of the stage and those left in the shadows.

AbstractThis article examines the Sulcis coal region in Italy and illustrates how discursive dynamics can impede energy transition by delegitimizing coal decline and the diffusion of renewable energies. Combining quantitative analyses of textual data and argumentative discourse analysis, we analyze newspaper articles published between 2011 and 2021 in the national, regional, and local press. Our findings reveal that shifts in topic salience and storylines reflect different transition phases (coal legitimacy, regime destabilization, and reconfiguration). Throughout the analyzed period, newspapers have cultivated a discursive environment that weakens efforts to phase out coal and promote low-carbon energy by amplifying particular storylines endorsed by competing discourse coalitions. Media discourse consistently portrays decarbonization and coal phase-out as threatening, anticipating disruption to regional livelihoods and traditions. Over time, renewable energies are marginalized or hindered by storylines promoting regime stability (coal legitimacy), soft transformation (coal-to-gas transition), and, finally, a reconfiguration (utility-scale renewable transition) promoted by incumbents and resisted by locally based discourse coalitions perceiving it as a form of colonialism. This study sheds light on the interplay between discourse dynamics and the complexities and challenges of the destabilization–reconfiguration pathway of coal regions. It contends that approaches combining both build-up and break-down dynamics into the analysis of transitions can offer a more nuanced, politically sensitive understanding and practical insights to instigate and navigate more equitable destabilization–reconfiguration pathways.

European coal and carbon-intensive regions (CCIRs) face the intricate challenge of navigating destabilization-reconfiguration pathways, requiring a nuanced understanding of how phase-out intertwines with innovation and lock-in mechanisms. The success of this transformation depends on a multitude of factors, including socio-political, economic, and material conditions, as well as psychosocial and cultural dimensions of place. This study examines how feedback loops between structural factors (i.e., socio-political, socio-economic, and infrastructural) and sense of place can either disrupt or reinforce lock-in mechanisms and path dependency in CCIRs. The study focuses on Sulcis CCIR (Sardinia, Italy), where extractive and metal industries are deeply ingrained in the region's culture and economy. To reconstruct the trajectory of the CCIR and gain in depth understanding of feedback mechanisms of path dependency across time, we triangulate different data sources including policy documents, newspapers, participatory workshops, and interviews with key stakeholders. The findings reveal the profound influence of a sense of place grounded in a shared industrial myth along with associated place meanings, identities, and memories on lock-in mechanisms. Positive feedback loops between sense of place and structural factors of lock-in have legitimated the dominance of coal and carbon-intensive industries across time, impeding the recognition of the need for change and obscuring windows of opportunity for low-carbon transformation. Following the definite destabilization of coal, dominant place meanings are being actively challenged, while the legacy of sense of place is serving as a guiding frame for shaping the legitimacy and imaginaries of place transformation and defining a just transition pathway. The study discusses the importance of recognizing and addressing the role of sense of place and its interaction with structural factors in perpetuating lock-in to ensure effective deliberate destabilization efforts and navigate a just reconfiguration of CCIRs.