How Greens turn grey: Taming energy transition imaginaries

Traced back to its origins in the 1970s, Germany’s Energiewende (energy transition) is entangled with competing visions of broader socio-political change. Calls for substantial societal change by the early environmental movement, however, stand in stark contrast to the policies implemented under the state-led Energiewende, particularly in response to the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Paradoxically, the triumph of renewable energy technologies as once fostered by environmental groups goes hand in hand with the fade of more radical demands for disruptive and foundational societal change that these groups once fought for. This contribution investigates the evolvement of competing (socio-technical) imaginaries attached to Germany’s energy transition, put forward by the Green Party. The party’s struggle illustrates and mirrors broader societal disputes over the implications of a changing energy system. While the energy transition has been characterized by technological advancement, industrial innovations, measurable targets for renewables and technological leadership, other normative imaginaries related to sufficiency, energy democracy or people’s participation have become less visible. To shed light on imaginary shifts over time, I take a historical perspective on Green Party programs, party conventions and parliamentary speeches by Green Party representatives between 1980 and 2020. The material allows me to (1) trace how the energy transition gets reimagined over time and (2) discuss how the Green Party has turned towards a technocratic imaginary of the energy transition, thereby silencing earlier ideas of broader societal change. Enriching a transitions perspective with the analytical lens of sociotechnical imaginaries illuminates modes of marginalization and the effective taming of desirable visions of the future.