Green transition through dynamics of problematizations: How forms of expertise influence the financial and social valuation of energy resources in Denmark

This project advances our understanding of green transitions, by examining what we call “dynamics of problematization”, which describes the interplay and tensions of modes of expertise that inform the social and financial valuation of energy resources in the governance of energy transition. The research contributes to transition studies by drawing upon recent developments within the intersection between the sociology of knowledge and the social studies of valuation. It studies how expertise, understood as ideas, models and calculative tools, from different scientific domains (i.e. economics, climate science, energy system modelling) perform realities and shape governance that constitute the valuation of energy resources. The project also explores new alternative metrics for valuation. The focus is on gas, wind, and biomass, central resources in the green transition. The three energy resources have different valuation histories, and they all share that the governance that ensure their future social and financial valuation currently is unsettled and (re-)negotiated. The project studies the three energy sources historically and (ethnographically) in the present in order to capture how dynamics of problematizations unfold, allowing learning for green transitions.

The project is funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark.