2026/05/29 by Prerna Gupta, T. Satterfield, Milind Kandlikar +1 · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Climate Change Communication and Perception #Risk Perception and Management #Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ae74e4
openalex publication_date 2026/05/29 · openalex created_date 2026/05/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/12
Abstract India’s energy transition is critical to reducing global carbon emissions. While all sources of energy, including fossil fuels, nuclear power and renewables, are important in government plans to meet growing energy demand, little is known about how the diverse Indian public perceives the risks and benefits associated with energy technologies, including nuclear, wind, solar, hydro, coal, oil, and gas. Utilising data from a multi-state survey, our analysis reveals that nuclear energy is perceived as the riskiest among the options, while its perceived benefits are more closely aligned with those of fossil fuels and are rated lower than those of renewables. These patterns broadly resemble those observed in European and United States (US) surveys. However, we find substantial subnational variation, which demonstrates the need to incorporate India’s social and cultural diversity into energy policy and technology assessments. Our results on the drivers of energy risk perception diverge markedly from studies conducted in the US and Europe. Individuals with strong egalitarian values perceive greater benefits across energy technologies (including nuclear), contradicting findings from Europe and the US, where egalitarianism typically corresponds to higher perceived risk and lower perceived benefit. Similarly, high communitarian values are associated with higher perceived benefit from nuclear and coal, a pattern not observed in the Global North. We also find that perceptions of energy technologies are associated with contrasting value orientations. Those who place greater weight on socio-environmental impacts tend to perceive greater risks across energy technologies, especially coal. In contrast, those with a more nationalist development orientation, emphasising national development, pride, and jobs, tend to perceive greater benefits from solar and coal but not nuclear.