Climate and energy policies are essentially about the future of our planet. Scenarios are one of the most central tools strategy processes. Although scenarios are widely made and presented to decision-makers there is precious little research on the actual use and influence of scenarios in decision-making. The DECENT project will close this research gap by investigating the national climate and energy policy processes in Finland.
We will perform
- a qualitative document analysis on the narratives of the future in and the process of conducting the climate and energy strategy,
- expert and stakeholder interviews on the experiences, expectations and doubts about the usefulness of the scenarios, and
- media analysis on the public debates regarding the climate and energy policies.
The DECENT project gathers twelve researchers from three organisations with a long history of collaboration. The Principal Investigator of the consortium is Professor Petri Tapio at Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC), University of Turku. The subproject PIs are Adjunct Professor Jari Lyytimäki at Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and Doctor Pasi Rikkonen at Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE).
The Research Council for Culture and Society at the Academy of Finland funds the project in 2019–2023.
Project publications:
- Aro, K., Aakkula, J., Lauttamäki, V., Varho, V., Martens, P. & Rikkonen, P. (2022) The use of scenarios in climate policy planning: an assessment of actors’ experiences and lessons learned in Finland, Climate Policy, 23(2), 199–211.
- Lauttamäki, V. (2021) Futures of the Finnish heating regime: actors’ views on the coexistence of district heating and ground-source heat pumps. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 35:11, 1398–1411,
- Lyytimäki J., Teperi A-M., Jylhä K.M., da Silva Vieira R. & Mervaala E. (2023) Dark side of resilience: systemic unsustainability. Frontiers in Sustainability, 4: 1241553.
- Lyytimäki, J. (2022) Storylines nailing or failing sustainability: Energy, mining and mobility as narrative arenas for societal transition. Sustainable Development, 31(1): 170–179.
- Lyytimäki, J. (2020) Ilmastonmuutos isosti otsikoissa – kirittääkö uutisointi kestävyysmurrokseen? Yhteiskuntapolitiikka 85(2): 191–196.
- Lyytimäki J. (2020) Environmental journalism in the Nordic countries. In Sachsman, David B. & Myer Valenti, JoAnn (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Environmental Journalism. Routledge, London and New York. p. 221–233.
- Lyytimäki, J., Kangas, H., Mervaala, E. & Vikström, S. (2020) Muted by a Crisis? COVID-19 and the Long-Term Evolution of Climate Change Newspaper Coverage. Sustainability, 12(20), 8575.
- Parkkinen, M. & Vikström, S. (2024) Alternative policy narratives of the future of climate change: Analyzing Finland's energy and climate strategy and news reports. Review of Policy Research.
- Tapio, P., Lauttamäki, V., Lyytimäki, J., Parkkinen, M., Rikkonen, P. & Varho, V. (2020) Toivottavat tulevaisuudet. Politiikasta, 21.2.2020.
- Rikkonen, P., Lauttamäki, V., Parkkinen, M., Varho, V. & Tapio, P. (2021) Five transition pathways to renewable energy futures – Scenarios from a Delphi study on key drivers and policy options. European Journal of Futures Research, 14 (2021).
- Vikström, S., Kangas, H.-L., Lyytimäki, J. & Mervaala, E. (2023) Framing climate futures: the media representations of climate and energy policies in Finnish broadcasting company news. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences, 20(1).
For more information:
Professor Petri Tapio, Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku
Project Specialist, Doctoral Student Marjukka Parkkinen, Finland Futures Research Centre, University of Turku
