‘We’re the real shit!’ Low-income groups’ unequal access to green mobility transitions in Norway

This paper investigates the intersection of mobility justice and sustainability transitions, focusing on how low-income groups experience and navigate mobility challenges. Data was gathered through storytelling workshops (14) and individual interviews (22), involving a total of 73 participants from low-income groups in three Norwegian cities: Bergen, Stavanger, and Trondheim. Using the concept of motility to reframe mobility as a form of social capital, our analysis shows how these groups are unable to appropriate any of the benefits offered by transitions towards low-carbon mobility, and instead face barriers like limited access to new technology, subsidies, and public infrastructure, at the same time as they are not being rewarded for their low-emission travel modes. Accordingly, the paper highlights a tension within Norway’s sustainability transitions strategy, showing how progress in technology diffusion, such as electric vehicle adoption, has resulted in an uneven distribution of benefits and a marginalisation of alternative low-carbon mobility. We argue for a shift in transport policy toward equity-focused measures, including targeted support for mature and low-cost technologies like e-bikes, improving the affordability and everyday flexibility of public transport, and establishing more inclusive planning processes.