Where the power lies: Developing a political ecology framework for just energy transition

Abstract

This critical review lays down the fundamentals for rethinking just energy transition. It reviews the theoretical perspectives of energy justice, socio‐technical transitions (STTs), and political ecology and presents a plausible and useful way to approach a just low‐carbon transition using Political Ecology as a broad framework. This Political Ecology framework for Sustainable Energy Transition (PESET) addresses power issues associated with low‐carbon transition, while also identifying the role of inclusivity and justice in low‐carbon transition. As energy transition studies have primarily focused on the Global North and the extraction and production of large technologies, this framework provides a more radical means to achieve just transition objectives with particular relevance for application in the Global South—a region largely overlooked in transitions scholarship and where mundane/simple technologies (e.g. Solar Home Systems and clean cookstoves) typify transitions processes to date. The PESET framework presents a novel contribution, linking the concepts of energy justice, STTs, and political ecology to provide a more comprehensive means of framing and analysing just energy transitions. It thus provides a novel overarching framework linking energy studies, sustainability transitions, development studies and innovation studies especially in an era where the globe is moving toward a clean and affordable energy for all (Sustainable Development Goal 7).