Low‐carbon energy, sustainable development, and justice: Towards a just energy transition for the society and the environment

Abstract

Governments and civil society are increasingly aware that the decarbonization of energy systems needs to be aligned with justice principles of recognition, distribution, and process. This paper establishes a conceptual linkage between "sustainable development", "low-carbon energy transitions" and "energy justice" and examines social priorities to address peoples' competing priorities associated with low-carbon energy interventions. By analyzing a renewable energy project in Vietnam as a case study, the paper shows that linking social priorities to energy justice provides a useful contribution for energy policy makers toward a better understanding of the multidimensional and complex aspects of low-carbon energy transitions, and how different segments of society prioritize and perceive them for the achievement of socially just energy decisions.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

“…Affordable and clean energy is directly related to other SDGs [196]. Energy production enhancement, energy efficiency [197,198], alternative energy resources [199], modern and renewable energy [200], clean cooking [201,202], energy cost [203], and zero-carbon energy and greenhouse gasses [204] are just a few highlights of the SDG-7 literature.…”

Sustainability of local renewable energy projects: A comprehensive framework and an empirical analysis on two islands

“…There is also not a commonly accepted method to measure the impact of the projects on local sustainability dimensions. The few available frameworks applied in the literature are either only qualitative (e.g., del Río & Burguillo, 2008) or tend to focus on just one subset of issues like economic (Maqbool et al, 2020), justice and equity (Siciliano et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021), and employment (Heinbach et al, 2014), ignoring the holistic nature of sustainability. Gjorgievski et al (2021) call for more research that combines economic, environmental and technical indicators under a common framework to assess the community impacts of projects.…”

Human Rights Aspect in the Indonesian Energy Transition: The Challenges of Promoting the Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment

“…Mainstreaming human rights in climate policy, including the energy transition, must be conducted by collaborating and cooperating with all parties (Wewerinke-Singh, 2022). The state as a regulator, corporations as operators in the field, and the public as beneficiaries must be involved to determine energy transition policies that do not injure human rights (Siciliano et al, 2021). The first step that needs to be taken is to explain to corporations that the energy industry, which is an extractive industry, has a broad dimension of human rights (Wewerinke-Singh, 2022).…”

“…Several scholars have studied energy transition, energy justice, and human rights. Siciliano et al (Siciliano et al, 2021) discuss the principle of justice in the energy transition in the context of Vietnam. Furthermore, Heffron (Heffron, 2022) also analysed dozens of cases related to energy justice from various countries and then conceptualised them for practical implementation.…”