Public opinion on the clean energy transition during times of crisis: a sentiment and thematic analysis of the effects of the 2022 energy crisis on finnish consumers

In 2022, Europe faced an unprecedented energy crisis that began as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Given the pivotal role of consumers in the clean energy transition, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how consumer attitudes develop during times of crisis. This study investigated how consumer awareness of and attitude toward various energy technologies and energy-conscious behaviors have developed before, during, and after the 2022 European energy crisis. We conducted a machine learning-based sentiment analysis using Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers and over 50,000 Finnish social media posts related to seven different energy technologies and behaviors. We also conducted a thematic analysis to supplement the findings of the sentiment analysis. Our results show that consumer awareness has increased significantly in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the following energy crisis. At the same time, our results indicate that consumer sentiment has become significantly more negative compared to before the crisis. Moreover, evidence suggests that the effects of the crisis on consumer awareness are transient, whereas those on consumer sentiment may be more long-lasting. Results of this study extend the understanding of how public opinion on energy technologies and behaviors develops during times of crisis.