Storylines nailing or failing sustainability: Energy, mining and mobility as narrative arenas for societal transition

The urgency of the sustainability transition, as emphasized by science, has not yet been fully translated to large‐scale, inspired and effective societal action. This article focuses on the transformative potential of science‐based information presented through specific sustainability storylines inside larger policy narratives. Sustainability storylines can serve as tools for learning from the past, create representations of the current situation and outline paths toward probable, preferable, or avoidable futures. The focus is on three storylines focusing on bioenergy as a renewable energy solution, green mining providing nonrenewable resources and physically active mobility allowing health and environmental benefits. The empirical focus is on Finland, a forerunner of sustainability policies with a large per capita environmental footprint. The potential of sustainable development goals to simultaneously serve as a globally shared and nationally relevant framework for sustainability storylines is discussed with a rather dismal conclusion but optimistic outlook.