Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition: Sámi Rights in the Development of Wind Energy in Sweden

• Author: Dorothee Cambou
• Position: Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science
• Pages: 292-315

© 2020 Dorothée Cambou. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribu-

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Citation: Dorothée Cambou. “Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition: Sámi Rights in the Development of Wind Energy

in Sweden” Arctic Review on Law and Politics, Vol. 11, 2020, pp. 310–333. http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v11.2293

Arctic Review on Law and Politics

Vol. 11, 2020, pp. 310–333

310

Peer-reviewed article

*Correspondence to: Dorothée Cambou, email: dorothee.cambou@helsinki.

Uncovering Injustices in the Green

Transition: Sámi Rights in the

Development of Wind Energy in Sweden

Dorothée Cambou

University of Helsinki, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, Finland

Abstract

This contribution is an analysis of how the rights of the Sámi to engage in reindeer husbandry are

guaranteed in the green transition to renewable energy in Sweden. Consideration of the increas-

ing number of court decisions addressing the impacts of wind energy on reindeer husbandry in

Sweden raises signicant questions about the fairness of the transition to sustainable development.

The purpose of this analysis is to examine the impacts of wind energy on reindeer husbandry and

uncover the justice issues raised by this development. Drawing on the discourse of just transition

that includes distributional, procedural and recognition considerations, this analysis more specif-

ically examines the distributive effects of the development of wind energy on reindeer husbandry

and identies how Sámi reindeer herders are included and their status and human rights as an

Indigenous people recognised within this process. On this basis, the conclusion from this study is

that systemic reforms of the Swedish system that take due consideration of the human rights of the

Sámi as an Indigenous people must be implemented in order to ensure a transition to sustainable

development that equally benets Sámi reindeer herders and can therefore provide justice for all.

Keywords: Sámi rights, wind energy, just transition, social justice, Indigenous peoples,

Swedish law

Responsible Editor: Nigel Bankes, Faculty of Law, University of Calgary, Canada

Received: April 2020; Accepted: June 2020; Published: December 2020

Introduction

While calls for ‘a sustainable and just transition’ have grown recently, little attention

has been paid to the exact meaning of ‘justice’ in the green transition. When this call

is addressed, most understandings of the term in the context of the transition from

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Uncovering Injustices in the Green Transition

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fossil fuel to renewable energy focus almost exclusively on the right to affordable

energy and the right to access sustainable energy infrastructure. This conceptual-

isation is grounded in international legal and policy documents that focus on the

urgency to provide sustainable energy for all, in particular the United Nations 2030

Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Goal 7, which calls upon states to

“Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”.1 By

contrast, much less attention has been paid to justice considerations, including the

potential for distributional inequities that the energy transition may generate. In fact,

most of the policy and decision makers addressing the topic emphasise the ques-

tion of providing sustainable energy but often overlook the social risks generated

by the impact of renewable energy projects. Hence the call for a sustainable transi-

tion mostly leaves unaddressed whether and how the deployment of this transition

imposes a cost on some while providing a benet for others. It promotes a transition

to sustainable development but does not fully engage with the asserted “need to

build peaceful, just and inclusive societies”.2

However, there are growing examples of the negative impacts caused by the tran-

sition from fossil fuel to renewable energy.3 Prominent voices among Indigenous

peoples are now contending that policy and legislation supporting the green transi-

tion do not adequately reect their interests, and in some instances, even perpetuate

colonialism.4 In Sweden, where the green transition is well underway, Sámi reindeer

herders oppose the development of wind energy projects on their traditional land. As

the Indigenous people of Sweden, Sámi reindeer herders have maintained a unique

way of life linked with the exercise of reindeer husbandry,5 a cultural practice that is

covered by the protection of international human rights instruments and recognised

under national law.6 However, the recent development of wind energy projects on

their traditional lands has become an important issue due to its adverse impact on

reindeer husbandry.7 As a result, Swedish courts are now dealing with an increasing

number of lawsuits in which Sámi reindeer herders oppose wind energy developers.

These cases call into question the fairness of the development of wind energy as a

means to promote sustainable development.

Given the pledge by all states that no one should be left behind in the transition

to sustainable development,8 the purpose of this contribution is to uncover the

impact of wind energy projects on reindeer husbandry and examine the adequacy

of the remedial framework to ensure that the rights of the Sámi as an Indigenous

people are adequately accounted for in the green transition. The premise of this

analysis is that the current governance system is based on a discursive relationship

of settler-colonial society that misrecognises Indigenous cultural status and rights.

Although important achievements have been made to recognise the rights of Indig-

enous peoples at the international level within the framework of human rights, the

national governance system of most countries, including Sweden, remains hostile

to, or inadequate in guaranteeing, the rights of Indigenous peoples. As a result,

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