The Hidden Cost of the Green Transition : Extraction and Different Interests in Sápmi

Sammanfattning

Research on extractive industries and the green transition has increasingly examined the environmental and social consequences of critical mineral extraction. However, less attention has been given to how extraction is represented and justified within institutional documents. Drawing on political ecology, this thesis examines how natural resource extraction in Sápmi is framed through competing interests in the context of the green transition. Through a qualitative thematic document analysis of policy strategies, institutional reports, industry material, NGO publications, and Sámi documents from Sweden, Norway, and Finland, the thesis analyses how land use, governance, consequences, and knowledge are represented. The analysis shows that extraction is frequently framed as necessary for climate mitigation, industrial development, strategic autonomy, and secure access to critical raw materials. At the same time, Sámi land use, Indigenous rights, and environmental concerns are often acknowledged through consultation, mitigation, and balancing procedures rather than as claims with equal authority over land use. The thesis further shows how technical, economic, and institutional forms of knowledge tend to be made more visible than Sámi and land-based knowledge systems. With relevance for political ecology and research on extractive governance, the thesis argues that the green transition is not only a technological or environmental shift, but also a process through which land, resources, and competing claims are represented, prioritised, and governed.