Negotiating sustainability: expert discourses on battery sustainability in the energy transition

Despite the necessity of batteries for a successful energy transition, the battery value chain poses numerous environmental, social, and governance challenges that are further exacerbated by rapidly growing demand. Although the sustainability of batteries is gaining increasing attention in policy and industry, no research to date has addressed how experts construct, negotiate, and evaluate their inherent characteristics. This article seeks to address this gap by reporting on interviews with battery industry experts in Norway. Drawing on social representations theory and critical discursive psychology, we attend to both the construction (what is said) and the function (why it is said) of expert talk. The analysis illustrates that the hegemonic representations of battery sustainability align with weak sustainability, framing batteries as a necessary solution compatible with continued growth and prosperity. Respondents use the flexibility of the sustainability concept to legitimize social and environmental consequences, thereby justifying the status quo and maintaining the existing system of inequality. Yet, critical (polemic) representations also appear in the interviews, where the experts question electrification and batteries as the path to a sustainable future. These alternative representations emphasize systemic transformation and sufficiency, opening space for stronger forms of sustainability. Overall, the results highlight how expert discourse shapes the meaning and practical use of sustainability in the energy transition, primarily reinforcing dominant understandings of sustainability, while expressing personal aspirations for more transformative alternatives.