Reflection on China’s Energy Justice During a Transitional Period

China’s economic model is transforming from a traditional planned economy to a modern market economy, in which context great changes have also taken place in the field of energy. From law, policy, and reform perspectives, this chapter aims to systematically describe the new trend of China’s energy development, including marketization, humanization, and ecologicalization. Based on the theory of energy justice, in particular, distributive justice and intergenerational justice, this chapter will also analyse the coincidence between the new trend of China’s energy development and energy justice, and find out the gap between them. In the transitional period, the Chinese government has made remarkable achievements in energy justice, but there is still a long way to go.

The Challenges of Rural Electrification in Canada

There have been significant energy justice issues in the development of Canadian rural electrification (RE), particularly in the provinces of Alberta, Ontario, and the Yukon territory. In an historical approach, investigative questions concerning the nature of the problem, the discourse, solutions canvassed, and changes over time, are asked. These questions frame matters of distributive justice and social justice. Lessons learned include: (i) geographical, economic, and political context can determine the just allocation of RE benefits and burdens; and (ii) public vs private approaches to RE have developed in different provinces. However, there is little evidence that successful distributional and social justice results in RE were very different in Alberta (private power) and Ontario (public power). Legal instruments, particularly Rural Electrification Association co-operatives, played an important role in Alberta.

Energy Justice Along the ‘New Silk Road’

Central Asia holds massive energy reserves, but its energy systems are generally unreliable and inefficient. Although the region’s energy prices are amongst the lowest in the world, increasing prices to improve utilities’ financial situations and ensuring the urgently needed investments are made are issues of high social and political sensitivity. Popular discontent with tariff increases has already helped to trigger regime change in Kyrgyzstan in 2010. Given the sensitivity of energy price increases and tight budgetary constraints in the region, what legal options are available to restore utilities’ financial viability without jeopardizing the affordability of energy supply? Focusing on procedural justice, this chapter argues that domestic courts have an important role to play in balancing utilities’ right to cost-recovery tariffs and consumers’ rights to affordable energy supply.

Energy Justice, Law, and Poverty in the Context of Mesoamerican Countries

This chapter has the aim of evaluating the connections between law and energy justice in the context of Mesoamerican legal regimes. From the perspective of the social justice dimension of distributional justice, it surveys the way legislation addresses the main drivers of energy poverty and how the law deals with them. To achieve its aim, the chapter is divided into four sections. The first section surveys the main drivers of energy poverty in the Mesoamerican region. The second discusses recent progress regarding electricity service coverage expansion. The third analyses how Mesoamerican legislation pretends to make reality the principles of SDG 7 and the main obstacles the law confronts to achieve them. The fourth section discusses the idea of considering access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy as a human right; and finally section five points out some conclusions.

Collaborating with Underserved Communities to Contribute to Decarbonization in the United States

In the United States, vulnerable populations are often disproportionately impacted by exposure to pollutants from fossil-fuelled power plants and petroleum-fuelled vehicles. This chapter examines several legal developments that hold promise for addressing the distributive energy injustices in the United States that result from reliance on fossil fuels. It begins with examining how an energy non-governmental organization in Chicago has utilized a variety of legal tools to improve energy efficiency and its role in working with community partners to advocate for a new law, the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act, that provides new funding for energy efficiency improvements in underserved communities and creates a new path for bringing renewable energy to underserved communities. The chapter also examines legal pathways in other jurisdictions to create community-based solar energy programmes. Finally, it explores recent developments in working with underserved communities to provide access to electric vehicles and electric vehicle infrastructure.

Energy Justice

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.

Legal Dimensions of Access to Modern Energy Services in Africa

This chapter examines strategies to achieve access to electricity, premised against the necessity for legal solutions and structures that will stimulate or encourage effective implementation of necessary objectives. It primarily focuses on three sub-Saharan African countries, Nigeria, Ghana, and Rwanda, while drawing examples as necessary from other countries in Africa. It opines that electricity access has to be pro-poor. Also that the success or failure of governments to increase energy access is tied to their realization of the criticality of electricity as a catalyst for development, and to the presence of effective policies. Synergy between critical actors is also an essential component.

Trump’s America and its Impact on Energy Justice

This chapter involves the United States, with attention focused on President Donald Trump’s administration. After an overview of energy justice in the context of America in 2020, the chapter considers the Trump administration’s approach—or absence thereof—to the precepts of energy justice. The chapter begins with an assessment of President Trump. The following section describes the likely position of the Republican Party on issues of energy justice. That is followed by a more detailed examination of the Trump-Republican Party actions involving matters that illuminate their approach to energy with significant focus on climate change and the administration’s efforts to roll back essentially all of the climate change-related measures put into place by former President Barack Obama. Finally, the conclusion considers where governmental policies may be heading and suggests that the Trump agenda is very much a contested one.

Energy Poverty in the Middle East and North African (MENA) Region

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region provides a classic illustration of how energy injustice cannot be separated from other social ills, such as conflicts, political instability, social exclusions, and extreme vulnerability to climate change. The MENA region is home to some of the world’s highest exporters of oil and natural gas. However, despite its vast oil and gas reserves, it is also home to a significant portion of the world’s energy-poorest people. About 65 million of 214.8 million living in the region have no access to electricity, while an additional 60 million suffer from prolonged power outages and undersupply. This chapter examines the divergent dimensions of energy poverty in the MENA region. It discusses law and governance innovations for promoting the availability, affordability, and accessibility of sustainable energy, especially electricity and modern fuels, across the region.

State Protection of Energy Consumers

This chapter scrutinizes the role of the state in ensuring electricity supply and protecting end-consumers along a spectrum of energy market models. On the one end, there are markets dominated by virtual state monopolies, such as the South African example, where supply and consumer protection take on a different shape, compared to those on the other end of the spectrum, where distribution of energy to end-consumers is privatized. The European Union (EU) exemplifies the latter. Analyses of both the Australian and Nigerian models of energy supply and end-consumer protection are included to demonstrate variations within privatized markets, and comment on the role of the state in implementing privatization. Issues of procedural and participatory justice are considered. Social justice issues are raised, furthermore, in that the type of consumer protection in a system is influenced by the degree of affluence of the community and the resilience of the system of governance.