How Stevns Municipality built a green-transition mandate by surveying 4,000 citizens

Customer: Stevns Municipality — east-coast Danish municipality

Sector: Public sector / local government

Purpose: Map citizen attitudes toward renewable energy to inform the green transition

Reach: 4,000 randomly selected citizens across the municipality

Goal: A representative basis for prioritising wind and solar initiatives toward 2030

Context: Only 25% of the municipality's electricity came from renewables in 2019; demand projected to rise 20% by 2030

That was the question facing Stevns Municipality as it worked toward becoming self-sufficient in green electricity by 2030. Rather than decide on assumptions, the municipality asked 4,000 citizens directly. The answer was clear — 53% preferred offshore wind overall — and it gave the administration a documented mandate to carry into the political process.  

Stevns Municipality surveyed citizens because its 2030 goal of self-sufficiency in green electricity required a documented understanding of public opinion before any concrete energy decisions could be made. In 2019, only a quarter of the municipality's electricity came from renewable sources such as wind turbines and solar panels, and based on Danish Energy Agency projections, consumption was expected to rise 20% by 2030.

The first survey was driven by a political need to understand public opinion in connection with European Energy's proposal to build an offshore wind farm off Stevns Klint. The second survey, rooted in the municipality's DK2020 climate plan, took a broader look at the green transition. To put the scale in perspective, the municipality stated that self-sufficiency by 2030 would require building one — or a combination — of the following:

• 10 onshore wind turbines, each 150 metres tall
• 1.8 offshore wind turbines, each 256 metres tall
• 138 hectares of solar panels

The municipality designed two questionnaires in close collaboration with Surveyxact's specialists in data collection and citizen engagement, built specifically around Stevns Municipality's situation, its green-transition goals, and the energy options on the table. Technically, the municipality could have run the survey on its own — but it chose to involve Surveyxact directly to guarantee the quality of the questions and sharpen the questionnaire.

The surveys mapped residents' attitudes toward renewable energy in general, and toward three specific options in particular: onshore wind turbines, offshore wind turbines, and solar panels. The goal was a survey precise enough that its results could ground concrete political decisions, not just describe general sentiment.

The survey produced clear, actionable majorities for each energy type. 71% of surveyed citizens were positive or very positive toward offshore wind turbines, 65% toward solar panels, and 49% toward onshore wind. When asked which form of renewable energy they preferred overall, 53% chose offshore wind.

The municipality also gained insight into the trade-offs citizens wanted considered: 81% pointed to the opportunity to improve biodiversity, 86% wanted noise and vibration from onshore turbines addressed, and a majority wanted community compensation (72% for offshore wind, 60% for onshore wind).

The survey gave the municipality a valid, representative foundation for its ongoing political work on the green transition. The questionnaire was sent to 4,000 randomly selected citizens to achieve the most representative result possible, and the response rate gave the administration a solid picture of citizen sentiment.

The impact was concrete. As of 11 May 2023, a broad majority in Stevns Municipality declared its support in a consultation response to the Danish Energy Agency regarding European Energy's application to build a cluster of turbines off Stevns Klint — a decision directly informed by the survey work.

• 4,000 randomly selected citizens surveyed for a representative basis
• 71% positive toward offshore wind, 65% toward solar, 49% toward onshore wind
• 53% preferred offshore wind as their overall first choice
• Citizen priorities documented: biodiversity (81%), noise/vibration (86%), community compensation (72%/60%)
• Directly informed a broad-majority political decision on an offshore wind farm at Stevns Klint (May 2023)

Citizen involvement strengthens green-transition decisions because the people most affected by the outcome help shape it, which produces both better data and stronger democratic legitimacy. A large part of the underlying work in surveys this close to citizens' daily lives is the questions you choose not to ask, and how you account for that.

Stevns deliberately limited the energy sources it asked about — nuclear power, for instance, is not something a single municipality can decide on — while still letting respondents leave their own comments and ideas. Several raised alternatives such as nuclear, wave and hydropower, and rooftop solar on public buildings; on the question of preferred energy source, 13% answered “Other.”