Climate, nature or people? a critical discourse analysis of a contentious solar energy project in Leipzig, Germany

As urban energy transitions begin to materialise, debates over their ecological and social impacts have emerged. This paper presents the case of conflict over the location of a solar energy project in Leipzig, Germany. The project promises to achieve greenhouse gas reductions and contribute to the city’s attempts to achieve its climate mitigation goals. The project is planned on the city’s former landfill site, in disuse for the last twenty years. In these twenty years, the landfill has become a refuge for various species of birds, butterflies, as well as larger animals like deer. Furthermore, the local people use it as a green oasis amidst industrial infrastructure. As a result, the project has raised opposition from citizens and environmental conservation groups. Using a socio-ecological justice frame, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of the arguments presented for and against the project during its planning and approval stage between 2021 and 2024. We draw from city council recordings, self-published reports, newspaper articles, key-informant interviews, and a residents’ survey. We contrast the discourse of climate change mitigation from the solar project against biodiversity conservation and the need for a green space by the locals. Findings indicate how climate change mitigation discourse, pushing for an urgent urban energy transition, overlooks ecological and social concerns. Socio-ecological coalitions pushback against these omissions and present transformative alternatives to the business-as-usual practice of climate urbanism. Overall, we argue that in order to produce transformative change in cities, the current planning and decision-making processes first need to be transformed.