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Paper short abstract

In this article, we examine a critical case from Norway of two wind farms built on the traditional reindeer herding land of the indigenous Sámi people. We analyse epistemic injustices enacted through State-led governance and the counter conducts employed by Sámi actors.

Paper long abstract

Sultana (2025) argues that an underappreciated dimension of climate change loss and damages arises from epistemic injustices, such as the devaluing of indigenous knowledges and ontologies, and suppression of the voice and agency of indigenous people. Within this context, we examine a critical case from Norway of two wind farms built on the traditional reindeer herding land of the indigenous Sámi people. In 2021, the Norwegian Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling, determined the State had breached internal law protecting the cultures of indigenous people by granting planning concession for these wind farms. Drawing on the Foucauldian concepts of power/knowledge and counter conducts, we consider how climate coloniality was enacted in this case, epistemically through State-led governance and power asymmetries. We then examine counter conducts employed by Sámi actors, which included commissioning their own cumulative impact assessment, led by a Sámi consultancy team, demonstrations outside the national parliament by a Sámi youth group, and advocating for engagement missions by UN expert groups on human rights. The counter conducts repoliticised the case and the (in)actions of the Norwegian State, generating considerable media interest that ultimately led to a formal apology being issued by the government to the Sami reindeer herders. Nevertheless, broader governance questions about the Sámi people rights to their traditional land and the implementation of key commitments in international law, particularly the right to free informed prior consent, remain unresolved. We conclude with observations on decolonializing Norwegian energy and climate governance domestically, and on potential international implications and lessons.