Discursive strategies within sustainability trade-offs: A case on the controversy over transition minerals

Abstract

Within sustainability controversies, actors face trade-offs where they prioritize either economic, social or environmental concerns. However, there is little research engaging with how actors mobilize discourses in sustainability controversies. This research seeks to extend this body of literature by adopting a discursive lens in which we examine how different actors mobilize different discourses to argue for their respective conceptions of sustainable development and their trade-offs. By adopting a longitudinal instrumental single-case study design, this research examines the ongoing controversy in Quebec over the development of new mining projects for the extraction of transition minerals. This study offers several contributions to the sustainability trade-offs literature. First, it sheds light on the dynamic nature of discursive strategies within sustainability controversies. Second, the paper broadens understanding of the use of moralization discursive strategies in sustainability trade-offs. Third, it identifies the new neutralization strategy in sustainability controversies. The paper also suggests several practical implications for the actors involved in sustainability controversies.