Always on their toes: Policy entrepreneurs’ efforts to avoid backlashes against climate policies for private cars in Norway

• Even popular transport policies for decarbonisation are prone to backlash. • Costs and doubts about environmental integrity make policy rollbacks more likely. • Policy entrepreneurs are crucial in maintaining policy stability. • NGOs promoting green transport are more successful under minority governments. Transport policies targeted towards cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from private cars are subject to increasing scholarly attention. An increasing literature investigates the role of policy entrepreneurs in promoting climate policies. Their role in maintaining policies is, however, rarely addressed in this literature. As climate policies are contested, they are also prone to weakening and rollbacks – and policies targeting private cars are no exception. Comparing the electrification of the vehicle fleet and increased use of biofuels in the Norwegian private car transport segment, we argue that by concentrating on the processes and analysing the connection between actors and policies across measures, we can better understand why and how policy instruments are maintained. The cases are interesting because they are the two most important climate policies in Norway targeting private cars. To stay successful, we find that policy entrepreneurs have to continue to remain active and alert after a policy-decision in their favour has been taken. To avoid rollback and achieve further policy change, they make use of different entrepreneurial strategies. We also find that in a democracy like Norway, where minority governments are common, the national budget negotiations create particularly important policy windows for low-carbon transport policies. We conclude that policy entrepreneurs play pivotal roles in maintaining policies and preventing backlash. Successful policy entrepreneurship is conditioned by persistence and ability to analyze the parliamentary situation combined with skillful choices of entrepreneurial strategies.