Navigating Political Feasibility and Backlash: Divergent Evidence of Offshore Wind Energy Implementation in Italy and the UK

Offshore wind power in Europe is expanding rapidly, providing increased opportunities as well as challenges, including public backlash among the most prominent ones. While much scholarly and policy attention has focused on national governments and international arenas, this study shifts the analytical lens to the role of cities and local authorities in European multi-level energy governance. It examines how urban energy policy contributes to the rescaling of climate governance and explores whether local actors act merely as implementers of higher-level decisions or as autonomous political subjects capable of fostering sustainability transitions. Through a comparative research design, the two cases under scrutiny are Rimini and Brighton, two coastal cities that are comparable along different dimensions, and that have witnessed the same possibility of constructing large-scale wind farms off their coast. The article explores energy politics with regard to three dimensions: (i) the actors involved, (ii) the interests at stake, (iii) the regulatory, institutional and governance structures of the decision-making process as a whole. I contend that this study illuminates the interconnectedness of climate and economic goals and the potential tensions with broader environmental goals: Rimini and Brighton display two opposite cases and fit for the purposes of research. Indeed, it could be argued that they both chose sustainability options, but what they were (differently) prioritising is the aspect that truly led them to a certain decision of adoption or non-adoption. In 2013/2014, Brighton (formally Brighton & Hove, together with its policy networks, stakeholders etc.) prioritised the urgency of the energy transition and its population favourably welcomed, after consultation and discussion, the construction of the Rampion wind farm. In 2020, Rimini also had to measure itself with a large-scale project, proposed by Energia Wind 2020 Srl, for the construction of an offshore wind farm. However, the services conference convened to express the point of view of local communities ended with a negative opinion from municipal and provincial administrators, prioritising conservation of the maritime environment and of landscape. These contrasting outcomes highlight how policy adoption depends on local prioritisation and network dynamics within multi-level governance arrangements. Exploring these two relevant pieces of the European energy governance mosaic – especially by comparing a country that remains a member of the European Union with one that no longer is – could provide important heuristic contributions to understanding the dynamics that unfold in Europe in recent times.