Presentation short abstract

Finland’s critical mineral potential promises economic and energy security gains, but it faces local resistance and demands for legal reform. This paper examines the related multiscalar justice tensions through a conflict-transformation lens, offering insights for policy and practice.

Presentation long abstract

Finland is among the European countries identified as having the potential to meet the rising demand for critical minerals deemed essential for the energy transition and, increasingly, for European and national security. Optimism has also sparked about boosting the lagging national economy through the critical mineral sector. However, the growing pressure has intensified local resistance, which has already pushed for improvements to national mining legislation and continues to challenge the dominant European and national discourses.

This paper delves into the outcomes of a doctoral dissertation on justice tensions in Finnish critical mineral governance (Leino, 2025). A multiscalar framework is used to analyze justice experiences and claims in both local and national-level conflicts. These are viewed through a conflict transformation lens, which sees conflicts as opportunities to identify and structure the justice issues arising in the critical mineral sector (e.g., Rodriguez et al., 2024).

Combining qualitative content analysis of documents, interviews, and survey data, the paper illuminates the tensions between the macro, meso, and micro scales, from the EU to municipal levels. Based on the research, the paper presents the key issues of multiscalar tensions and discusses how a conflict-transformation approach can help address them in practice. More broadly, it responds to critiques of the narrow and superficial use of ‘just transition’ in energy and climate policy discourses.

Leino, J., 2025. Analyzing justice tensions in Finnish critical mineral governance. University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu.

Rodriguez, I., Walter, M., Temper, L. (Eds.), Just Transformations. Grassroot Struggles for Alternative Futures. Pluto Press, London.