Applying energy justice into the energy transition

2022 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. 111936
Author(s):  
Raphael J. Heffron
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transition ◽  
Energy Justice

scholarly journals An inter-disciplinary approach to the energy transition in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Todd ◽  
Darren McCauley
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Static Approach ◽  
Tackle Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuel Industry ◽  
Energy Justice

AbstractThe compelling need to tackle climate change is well-established. It is a challenge which is being faced by all nations. This requires an approach which is truly inter-disciplinary in nature, drawing on the expertise of politicians, social scientists, and technologists. We report how the pace of the energy transition can be influenced significantly by both the operation of societal barriers, and by policy actions aimed at reducing these effects. Using the case study of South Africa, a suite of interviews has been conducted with diverse energy interests, to develop and analyse four key issues pertinent to the energy transition there. We do so primarily through the lens of delivering energy justice to that society. In doing so, we emphasise the need to monitor, model, and modify the dynamic characteristic of the energy transition process and the delivery of energy justice; a static approach which ignores the fluid nature of transition will be insufficient. We conclude that the South African fossil fuel industry is still impeding the development of the country’s renewable resources, and the price of doing so is being met by those living in townships and in rural areas.

Energy justice gaps in renewable energy transition policy initiatives in Vermont

Energy Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 159 ◽  
pp. 112608
Author(s):  
Walter Keady ◽  
Bindu Panikkar ◽  
Ingrid L. Nelson ◽  
Asim Zia
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
Transition Policy

scholarly journals Transitions to Future Energy Systems: Learning from a Community Test Field

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siddharth Sareen ◽  
Douglas Baillie ◽  
Jürgen Kleinwächter
Keyword(s):  
Energy Systems ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Test Field ◽  
Global Connections ◽  
Systems Learning ◽  
Integrated Policy ◽  
Southern Portugal ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
Socioeconomic Considerations

This article explores the challenges of transitioning towards future energy systems in a solar test field within the eco-community of Tamera, Portugal. We examine what findings can point to wider actionability and how. First, we consider how Tamera’s solar test field has addressed energy transition challenges. We unpack the nature of stability and change in achieving 60 percent energy autonomy; trace the linkages to spatiotemporal issues implicated in this sociotechnical process informed by keen commitment to energy justice; and dwell on the test field’s socioeconomic considerations at its interface with the Portuguese institutional framework and global connections. Second, we identify which findings can fertilise policy and action across European contexts. Considerations in gradually installing sub-100 kW solar capacity contrast starkly with the current proliferation of grid-scale solar in southern Portugal, raising questions about the actionability of knowledge on sociotechnical transitions. We co-generate ideas on how such contextualised epistemological advances can aid our understanding of societal energy transitions. The article encourages socially informed, integrated policy pathways. It speaks to building epistemological complementarities between applied researchers and practicing agents; problematises linking across scale between a community and institutionalising powers; and calls for actionable efforts that integrate systems thinking and power dynamics towards transformation.

scholarly journals Improvement of metric for quantification and assessment of the energy justice

2021 ◽  
pp. 262-262
Author(s):  
Miroslav Parovic ◽  
Miroslav Kljajic
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Composite Indicator ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
New Energy ◽  
Energy Indicators ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Universal Application

This paper provide a qualitative analysis of existing metrics that directly or indirectly quantify energy justice. The main objective of the paper was to determine shortcomings and to suggest improvements in order to enhane existing metrics and create conditions for defining of new energy indicators. The emphasis was placed on the analysis of the readiness of the system for the energy transition. Therefore, elements of the energy trilemma of the observed countries were defined using known parameters related to the transition processes. The use of known economic, political, energy, environmental and other indicators provided the universality of the suggested metric and reduced the impact of subjectivity. Proposed improvements for the metric of energy justice and the defining of new energy indicators served as a help tool for decision-makers in the energy sector. Political solutions should strive to a balancing of the energy trilemma, which was the main precondition for achieving the goals of sustainable development and a just transition. The main results of this paper are the possibility of universal application of metric for the quantification of energy justice and a new composite indicator that indicated the level of energy transition fairness.

scholarly journals A Mismatch in Future Narratives? A Comparative Analysis Between Energy Futures in Policy and of Citizens

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone W. Haarbosch ◽  
Maria Kaufmann ◽  
Sietske Veenman
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Policy Narratives ◽  
The Future ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
Future Narratives

In the Netherlands, one of the goals of the energy transition is to expand the energy neutrality of houses up to 1.5 million houses until 2030. Citizens are expected to play an important role in this process, but the implementation is hampering, as citizens do not take up this role, for example, installing solar panels. Policy documents tend to anticipate futures changes from an economic rationale, which tends to align more clearly with the anticipated futures of higher educated, financially wealthy households. So, in a broader perspective, it is unclear how the future desires and expectations of citizens are represented in policy. Often, policies focus on the implementation of best-practices, in contrast, this study investigated in the potential mismatches between futures of citizens and environmental policies. As (policy) narratives of the future are performative, excluding certain stakeholders' perceptions might lead to energy injustice and could jeopardize the implementation of the energy transition. Indeed, expectations and desires of citizens seem not to be considered as they are based on different rationales (e.g., clean, green, safe living environment). This paper aims to analyse the future “narrative mismatches” (Ottinger, 2017) in the context of the energy transition in the Netherlands. Therefore, we combine a futures perspective, which distinguishes between expected, desired, and strategic future; and an energy justice perspective as we want to analyse how different issues of energy justice are recognized in these future narratives. Our research question is “How do policy future narratives on energy relate to future narratives that are important to citizens' everyday life in the Netherlands?” A narrative approach had been chosen to conduct a comparative analysis between a set of policy documents and the narratives of 30 local citizens. We identified several future narrative mismatches, which can be distinguished in two main types: (1) opposing mismatches, where policy narratives and narratives of citizens anticipate antagonistic futures, and (2) disconnected mismatches, where the mismatch emerges because narratives do not engage with each other and focus on different issues. These mismatches of anticipated futures might create challenges for the implementation of the energy transition characterized by just decision-making and a fair distribution of burdens and benefits.

Energy Justice and Energy Law

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Transition ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Energy Poverty ◽  
Energy Projects ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
The Right ◽  
Procedural Rights ◽  
Energy Law ◽  
Specific Momentum

Energy justice has emerged as a matter of vital concern in energy law, with resonances in the attention directed to energy poverty, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There are energy justice concerns in areas of law as diverse as human rights, consumer protection, international law and trade, and in many forms of regional and national energy law and regulation. The book covers main themes related to justice. Distributive justice, the equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of energy activities, is challenged mainly by the existence of people suffering from energy poverty. This concept is also associated with substantive energy equity through such measures as the realization of ‘energy’ rights. There is also a procedural (or participation) justice, consisting in the right of all communities to participate in decision-making regarding energy projects and policies that affect them (this dimension of energy justice often includes procedural rights to information and access to courts). Under the concept of reparation (or restorative) justice, the book includes even-handed enforcement of energy statutes and regulations, as well as access to remedies when legal rights are violated. Finally, the idea of recognition or social justice means that energy injustice cannot be separated from other social ills, such as poverty and subordination based on caste, race, gender, or indigeneity, the need to take into account people who are often ignored. These issues are given specific momentum by thinking through how we might achieve a ‘just’ energy transition as the world faces the climate change challenges.

scholarly journals Empowering Vulnerable Consumers to Join Renewable Energy Communities—Towards an Inclusive Design of the Clean Energy Package

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Hanke ◽  
Jens Lowitzsch
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Consumer Empowerment ◽  
Specific Design ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Vulnerable Consumers ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
Energy Package

The unequal distribution of costs and benefits of the energy transition is a challenge for energy justice and energy policy. Although the empowerment of consumers to participate in renewable energy communities (RECs) has great potential for a just energy transition, vulnerable consumers remain underrepresented in RE projects. The recast of the European renewable energy directive obliges the European Member States to facilitate the participation of vulnerable consumers and support their inclusion in its “enabling framework” for prosumership. However, the type and specific design of corresponding measures remains unclear. Against this background this article investigates consumer empowerment in a vulnerability context. In particular we stress the need to understand how vulnerability affects participation in RECs to inform both policy makers and practitioners on its specificities and restrictions for the “enabling framework”. To prevent the inclusion of vulnerable consumers in RECs from remaining an idea on paper lawmakers need to be made aware of the implications for a consistent “enabling framework”. We argue that both individual vulnerable consumers as well as RECs need incentives and support to boost RECs’ capacity to include groups that until now remain underrepresented.

scholarly journals Energy Justice

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-30
Author(s):  
Aileen McHarg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
Regulatory Systems ◽  
Energy Justice ◽  
Energy Law ◽  
Economic Considerations

The explosion of interest in energy justice as a guiding principle for energy law and policy is a highly significant development with potentially radical implications. This ‘ethical turn’ is associated with increased attention to energy matters by social scientists, driven by disillusionment with neo-liberal energy policies and the challenges of the energy transition. Energy justice scholars seek a more holistic, human-centred approach to energy decision-making, which understands the fundamental importance of energy and energy systems to human flourishing, and the complexity of energy decision-making as a socially-embedded phenomenon involving more than merely technical and economic considerations. However, review of the literature reveals a range of different conceptual and theoretical understandings of energy justice in play, which are not always fully developed or mutually consistent. More attention is also required to questions of implementation, particularly what implications energy justice might have for legal and regulatory systems, as well as judicial decision-making.

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