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Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures

Phedeas Stephanides, Jason Chilvers, Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda, Tom Hargreaves, Helen Pallett, Chris Groves Orcid Logo, Nicholas Pidgeon, Karen Henwood, Robert Gross

Energy Research & Social Science, Volume: 127, Start page: 104251

Swansea University Author: Chris Groves Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104251

Abstract

Whilst dominant science-policy framings focus on getting publics to accept widespread infrastructural changes deemed necessary for net zero, social science scholarship has argued for the need to move ‘beyond acceptance’. In this paper we advance on existing studies which tend to emphasise a largely...

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Published in: Energy Research & Social Science
ISSN: 2214-6296 2214-6326
Published: Elsevier Ltd 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70180
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last_indexed 2025-08-16T05:30:06Z
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We suggest that this can be more accurately viewed as distinct co-existing and interacting perspectives on public responses to net zero infrastructures. We present a framework that identifies four perspectives on how publics relate to infrastructural change. This suggests that alongside perspectives focusing on public acceptance and societal acceptability, two alternative perspectives emphasise the need for societal responsiveness perspectives, one with reference to specific settings and one more systemically. Drawing on a review of academic literature and UK policy documents, we move beyond studies focusing on discrete technologies to analyse how these perspectives are evident across the energy system, with reference to three exemplifying case study areas: wind energy, greenhouse gas removal, and smart home technologies. Our analysis shows that public responses to net zero infrastructures are contingent on particular sociotechnical situations and are interrelated across wider systems. While societal responsiveness perspectives are emerging in contestation to the still dominant focus of gaining acceptance, we suggest that a more systemic perspective on societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures is needed. 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spelling 2025-08-15T15:39:27.0849871 v2 70180 2025-08-13 Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures 847beea4d3481c4df56d0545a06d7c5b 0000-0002-5873-1119 Chris Groves Chris Groves true false 2025-08-13 SOSS Whilst dominant science-policy framings focus on getting publics to accept widespread infrastructural changes deemed necessary for net zero, social science scholarship has argued for the need to move ‘beyond acceptance’. In this paper we advance on existing studies which tend to emphasise a largely sequential progression from acceptance to ‘beyond acceptance’ approaches. We suggest that this can be more accurately viewed as distinct co-existing and interacting perspectives on public responses to net zero infrastructures. We present a framework that identifies four perspectives on how publics relate to infrastructural change. This suggests that alongside perspectives focusing on public acceptance and societal acceptability, two alternative perspectives emphasise the need for societal responsiveness perspectives, one with reference to specific settings and one more systemically. Drawing on a review of academic literature and UK policy documents, we move beyond studies focusing on discrete technologies to analyse how these perspectives are evident across the energy system, with reference to three exemplifying case study areas: wind energy, greenhouse gas removal, and smart home technologies. Our analysis shows that public responses to net zero infrastructures are contingent on particular sociotechnical situations and are interrelated across wider systems. While societal responsiveness perspectives are emerging in contestation to the still dominant focus of gaining acceptance, we suggest that a more systemic perspective on societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures is needed. We consider the research and policy-practice implications of this systemic societal responsiveness perspective in terms of public responses to, engagement with, and the governance of net zero transitions. Journal Article Energy Research & Social Science 127 104251 Elsevier Ltd 2214-6296 2214-6326 Beyond public acceptance; Publics; Societal responsiveness; Systemic; Energy; Net zero; Infrastructures 1 9 2025 2025-09-01 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104251 Review COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee The review presented in this article was funded by the UK Research Councils as part of the UKERC Phase 4 research programme (EPSRC grant reference EP/S029575/1). EPSRC grant reference EP/S029575/1 2025-08-15T15:39:27.0849871 2025-08-13T11:10:35.7889271 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Phedeas Stephanides 1 Jason Chilvers 2 Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda 3 Tom Hargreaves 4 Helen Pallett 5 Chris Groves 0000-0002-5873-1119 6 Nicholas Pidgeon 7 Karen Henwood 8 Robert Gross 9 70180__34960__b10d46e6e44b479891a002af11669648.pdf 70180.VOR.pdf 2025-08-15T15:35:19.7028104 Output 1008658 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures
spellingShingle Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures
Chris Groves
title_short Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures
title_full Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures
title_fullStr Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures
title_full_unstemmed Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures
title_sort Beyond public acceptance: Towards systemic societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures
author_id_str_mv 847beea4d3481c4df56d0545a06d7c5b
author_id_fullname_str_mv 847beea4d3481c4df56d0545a06d7c5b_***_Chris Groves
author Chris Groves
author2 Phedeas Stephanides
Jason Chilvers
Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda
Tom Hargreaves
Helen Pallett
Chris Groves
Nicholas Pidgeon
Karen Henwood
Robert Gross
format Journal article
container_title Energy Research & Social Science
container_volume 127
container_start_page 104251
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2214-6296
2214-6326
doi_str_mv 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104251
publisher Elsevier Ltd
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
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description Whilst dominant science-policy framings focus on getting publics to accept widespread infrastructural changes deemed necessary for net zero, social science scholarship has argued for the need to move ‘beyond acceptance’. In this paper we advance on existing studies which tend to emphasise a largely sequential progression from acceptance to ‘beyond acceptance’ approaches. We suggest that this can be more accurately viewed as distinct co-existing and interacting perspectives on public responses to net zero infrastructures. We present a framework that identifies four perspectives on how publics relate to infrastructural change. This suggests that alongside perspectives focusing on public acceptance and societal acceptability, two alternative perspectives emphasise the need for societal responsiveness perspectives, one with reference to specific settings and one more systemically. Drawing on a review of academic literature and UK policy documents, we move beyond studies focusing on discrete technologies to analyse how these perspectives are evident across the energy system, with reference to three exemplifying case study areas: wind energy, greenhouse gas removal, and smart home technologies. Our analysis shows that public responses to net zero infrastructures are contingent on particular sociotechnical situations and are interrelated across wider systems. While societal responsiveness perspectives are emerging in contestation to the still dominant focus of gaining acceptance, we suggest that a more systemic perspective on societal responsiveness of net zero infrastructures is needed. We consider the research and policy-practice implications of this systemic societal responsiveness perspective in terms of public responses to, engagement with, and the governance of net zero transitions.
published_date 2025-09-01T05:30:43Z
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