NTNU Energy Transition Week 2027

Workshop: Democracy, Legitimacy and Engagement

Transitions away from fossil fuel energy systems need public support to succeed – and that support can no longer be taken for granted. Whilst substantial progress is being made, some new wind farms, power lines and data centres are meeting local resistance. The short-term costs of change are negatively affecting some households and businesses, and the rise of populist parties is challenging the political consensus on climate policy.

This workshop asks how energy transitions can keep democratic legitimacy and momentum when people disagree about their direction, costs and benefits. The day is built around three questions:

1. What does effective public engagement look like?
2. How should we share scarce resources, such as grid capacity, between competing needs?
3. How can democracies keep energy transitions moving?

The sessions

Framing session · 60 min

Why are energy transitions being contested?

Where does resistance to energy transitions come from, and how much is it slowing progress towards climate and energy goals? Starting with Norway and drawing on experience from other countries, this session gives us a shared picture of the challenge – so the rest of the day can focus on what to do about it.

Session 1 · 90 min

What does effective public engagement look like?

Using local and national case studies, this session examines what successful engagement means in practice. How can communities get real influence and ownership? How do we make room for disagreement without stalling progress, or opening the door to misinformation and deliberate polarisation? And how can engagement be built into energy planning from the start, rather than left until a project becomes controversial? Running through it all is trust in the institutions that make the decisions.

Session 2 · 90 min

The politics of scarcity – who gets what?

Grid capacity is scarce, and more and more users are competing for it. This session looks at who carries the costs of energy transitions, who gets the benefits, and how that affects public support. Who should be first in line for power and grid capacity – should data centres, for example, be prioritised over other users? How do we weigh local impacts against national benefits? Where do markets do the job, and where do we need other tools? And could building more capacity, faster, remove the bottleneck?

Session 3 · 60 min

How can democracies keep energy transitions moving?

The final session returns to the big picture. Across Europe and in Norway, the political consensus on climate policy is shifting, and energy prices and the short-term costs of change are testing people’s willingness to pay. Security and affordability concerns strengthen the case for some measures and stand in the way of others. How do we keep transitions legitimate without making timely change impossible – could going slower now mean going faster later? And who should decide the speed and direction of change?

Timeline