Description
Social acceptance has become a central concern in debates on energy transition, particularly as governments (central and local governments) pursue policies framed around “urgency,” “speed,” and “scientific” imperatives that often compress deliberative spaces for citizens. Building on the multidimensional framework of social acceptance (Wüstenhagen, Wolsink & Bürer, 2007; Elis et al., 2023), this paper conceptualizes acceptance not as a static attitude but as a processual and political phenomenon shaped by shifting landscapes, policy regimes, and market mechanisms. Social acceptance emerges through interactions across time, power, and scale—an insight that becomes increasingly relevant as energy transition‑related industries expand into resource‑rich regions of the Global South.
Using the case of the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi, this paper illustrates how social acceptance evolves across the phases of nickel extraction, industrialization, and socio‑technical regime consolidation. The Morowali case reflects what is called the ‘processuality’ of social acceptance. In the early phase, local elites supported the allocation of 4,000 hectares of land in Bahodopi Sub‑District, driven by hopes of the local elites and communities that the nickel industry—anchored by PT Bintang Delapan Mineral and PT Sulawesi Mining Investment—would bring employment and development in the district. However, as mining expanded and the coal‑fired captive power plant was constructed, concerns over environmental degradation, labor conditions, and unequal benefit distribution intensified. Acceptance declined as communities experienced the material and social consequences of rapid industrialization, compounded by limited avenues for meaningful participation due to centralized permitting and weakened local governance. While renewable energy innovation is often associated with hopes for decarbonization and local development, conflicts surrounding land, pollution, and governance continue to pose major challenges for the political sustainability of the transition.
The paper will use process tracing as a method to demonstrate the conditions under which social acceptance is formed, negotiated, or withdrawn. Drawing from the case, the paper will seek an opportunity to contribute to the debate on social acceptance, according to Elis et al. (2023), which differs depending on the levels of diversity among key decision-makers in shaping the likelihood of developing acceptance or, on the contrary, losing trust and making resistance. The study shed light on how institutional lock-in reserves a logic of extractivism in the politics of social acceptance, in turn making Indonesia’s energy transition a processual and uncertain.
Keywords: energy transition, social acceptance, extractivism, lock-in