In the United States, Democrats and Republicans are more likely to support energy projects that are community-owned, create jobs, and generate solar energy, but local elected officials underestimate their constituents’ support for projects with these characteristics. Since these officials play a key role in approving new energy projects and negotiating the benefits they bring to communities, aligning local elected officials’ perceptions with the public’s could improve progress toward just energy transitions.
Messages for policy
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Direct benefits like job creation and community ownership increase public support for large-scale energy projects.
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Support for energy projects is similar across Democrats and Republicans in the general public, suggesting opportunities for bipartisan efforts.
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Elected officials underestimate how much their constituents support projects that generate solar energy and create permanent jobs.
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Open dialogue between community members and local elected officials about prioritized project benefits may help advance energy transitions.
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Change history
23 June 2025
Since the version of the article initially published, Fig. 1 has been amended following a correction to the original article (Caggiano, H. et al. Nat. Energy https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01603-w (2024)).
Further Reading
Gustafson, A. et al. Republicans and Democrats differ in why they support renewable energy. Energy Policy 141, 111448 (2020). This work finds that most Americans support renewable energy and explains that Democrats and Republicans express support for different reasons.
Constantino, S. M. & Weber, E. U. Decision-making under the deep uncertainty of climate change: The psychological and political agency of narratives. Curr. Opin. Psychol. 42, 151–159 (2021). This work examines how people make decisions around climate change considering complexity, uncertainty, and tradeoffs.
Bergquist, P., Mildenberger, M. & Stokes, L. C. Combining climate, economic, and social policy builds public support for climate action in the US. Environ. Res. Lett. 15, 054019 (2020). This work demonstrates that when bundled together, social and economic benefits increase public support for climate policy.
Vuichard, P., Broughel, A., Wüstenhagen, R., Tabi, A. & Knauf, J. Keep it local and bird-friendly: Exploring the social acceptance of wind energy in Switzerland, Estonia, and Ukraine. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 88, 102508 (2022). This work demonstrates that minimal ecological impact and local ownership increases support for wind energy in three European countries.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported through internal funding from the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University.
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Caggiano, H., Constantino, S.M., Greig, C. et al. Community benefits can build bipartisan support for large-scale energy infrastructure. Nat Energy 9, 1187–1188 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01585-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01585-9
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