Energy is a fundamental good that has a vital role in our lived experience, creating so called "energy ripples" that affect our society, economy, politics and environment. Yet as we face the pressing contemporary challenges of climate change and energy security, to name just two, we are being forced to re-work the established patterns of energy supply, distribution and consumption. Amidst this widespread acknowledgement that our current energy structures are unsustainable, and as energy moves up the social and political agenda, it is increasingly clear that we must consider the ethics of our energy actions and decisions.Despite this acknowledgement, however, the literature surrounding the emergent field of energy justice is underdeveloped. In this regard, Sovacool, Sidortsov and Jones' contribution is both timely and essential.Sovacool and his fellow authors ambitiously explore the intersection between energy security, equality and justice; the eponymous title of their book. Following a review of the concept of energy justice as it's commonly understood -a concept that houses the core tenets of distributional, procedural and cosmopolitan justice -Sovacool et al. introduce two new and intentionally simplistic over-arching theories, the prohibitive and the affirmative principles of justice. They do so as recognition that the provision of energy should not interfere with access to basic goods, and that where it is the only means of achieving these goods there is a derivative entitlement to the energy service itself. Later, using five substantive chapters built around the core themes of temporal, economic, socio-political, geographical and technological dimensions of justice-related impacts, they explore the complexity and enormity of our energy justice challenges. In doing so they identify cross cutting themes, all of which are required for a comprehensive understanding of energy justice at any given scale.As one of a series of three books produced by the Energy Security and Justice Program at Vermont Law School, this book contributes to a growing list of publications that address the intersection between energy and justice. Alongside such a crucial and timely focus, the main

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This paper examines five communities in the United States (U.S.) that have transitioned to 100% use of renewable resources for electricity. The paper describes and compares social, political and economic similarities and differences among these communities to improve understanding of the factors that support successful renewable energy (RE) transitions. The analysis builds on Geels' multi-level perspective theory in assessing sustainable energy transitions and the energy transition process based on these five case studies.Main variables of interest considered for 100% renewable energy transition in these municipalities are renewable energy resource availability (solar, wind and hydro), utility ownership, partisanship of municipal leadership, population size, and supporting energy legislation at state level renewable portfolio standard (RPS). Findings from this paper show that utility ownership appears to play a critical role in the transition process, as most of the municipalities have municipally owned utilities. State RPS programs are also prominent among all the states in which these the municipalities are located, indicating the importance of state legislation. Further, RE resource availability may not be required, as possibilities for hybridization of energy technologies are evident in the studied places. The most common pathway typology in these 100% RE transitions is reconfiguration. This typology results from technological innovations fuelled by development in RE technologies and stakeholder advocacy. Identified drivers from this research provide helpful parameters of consideration for energy transitions in other places in the U.S. and beyond.

Rapidly increasing digitization has positively contributed to economic and social development and helped increasing environmental protection. However, it also made socio-technical systems and ecosystems more vulnerable to cyber-threats. Critical infrastructure (CI) in the energy sector is particularly vulnerable to such threats. Remoteness, seasonal darkness, and severe climate that is becoming less predictable due to global climate change-the kind of conditions present in the Arctic European High North (EHN), for example-amplify the impacts of a potential cyber-attack. Although these exceptionally critical infrastructure conditions (ECIC), as we term them, pose inordinate and immense governance challenges, the existing national and international legal frameworks treat them in a fragmented manner. In this paper, we argue for rethinking the existing governance structures and propose an approach that connects cybersecurity and environmental governance. We outline the contours of a coherent and cohesive risk-based, pluralistic, and polycentric legal framework that we see as a critical part of the new ECIC governance regime. We draw upon the concept of sustainable development and the precautionary and polluter-pays principles of environmental law to propose three guiding principles for this framework.