Wind Power Approval and Decentralization: Evidence from the Swedish Greens

Green parties are commonly seen as strong proponents of wind power. This paper presents an alternative view from Sweden’s highly decentralized institutional setup, where municipalities can veto wind power applications on arbitrary grounds. By examining data from voting records in the municipal council from a sample of 300 applications, I find that the Greens are not more inclined to vote for approval than the remaining three major parties. A likely mechanism is that even if the Greens have a stronger preference for climate policy than the other parties, they are also more concerned about the local environmental disamenities associated with wind power. Consistent with this finding, I examine less detailed data from a larger sample of about 900 applications, finding no evidence that an increase of Green seats in the municipal council is associated with any increase in the probability of approval.