CET Lunch: Backlash against sustainability policies – what approaches for CET research?

Our speaker will attend in person. Participants can sign up and tune in via stream, or turn up at CET where lunch will be served on a first-come, first-served basis.

What do we make of all the resistance to sustainability policies and green transitions in cities? There are episodes of this resistance in Norway, Europe and the rest of the world, from toll roads protests, to yellow vests and the ‘greenlash’ in the EU. In this talk I will discuss about how we can approach these trends in social science research, and at CET. First, I will briefly discuss some of our published research on populism and resistance to sustainability policies, where we have argued that a democratic deficit is at least partly to blame. Secondly, I am interested in discussing future directions to our research, particularly our ongoing efforts to engage in dialogues with people who identify as opposed to the sustainability policies. In the past months we have attempted to have ‘open futures dialogues’ drawing on methodologies of organised group deliberation. What have we learned, and how do we move forward with this? What other approaches should CET consider? 

About the speaker

Håvard Haarstad is professor of human geography, and director for the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET) at the University of Bergen. His main research focus is social change towards sustainability, particularly in relation to climate. He is interested in how we can transform cities and urban life – materially, socially and culturally – in order to meet the climate and sustainability challenges that face us.