Who’s fighting for justice?: advocacy in energy justice and just transition scholarship

Abstract

Recent political, economic and policy change in the US, Australia, and Europe, in particular, have put transitions towards low-carbon energy futures at the forefront of local and national policy agendas. How these transitions are managed is likely to affect the feasibility, timing and scope of transition policy. Recognizing the existing maldistribution of the benefits and burdens of fossil fuel-based extraction, energy generation, and distribution, advocates and scholars increasingly call for policies that not only support decarbonization goals, but also those of equity. Proposals that do not contain such goals may be met with resistance. This review examines the politics of achieving more just outcomes by asking, what is our current understanding of justice advocacy and the impacts of such advocacy on the energy transition? In this study, we systematically review articles that include the key concepts of “just transition” or “energy justice” and that examine advocacy in energy transition contexts. We find advocates from diverse communities and affiliated with varied organizational types are involved in advocacy. Diverse issues motivate advocates and the most common advocate type in the literature are residents that are affected by local impacts of energy transition decisions. Extra-institutional tactics are the most common means of advocate action. We also find that advocacy is often motivated by issues related to decision-making processes and environmental degradation. These findings illuminate that: 1) energy systems and transitions are governed by processes and institutions that are often inaccessible, 2) advocates often attempt to affect change using tactics external to such processes and institutions, and 3) issues of environmental degradation are often prominent in advocacy discourse concerning the energy transition. Future research should seek to more clearly determine advocates’ primary motivations and the tactics and actions that ultimately aid or hinder more equitable outcomes.

Energy Literacy and Justice: The Path to Inclusivity

“…Consequently, the politics of achieving just outcomes in energy transitions are scrutinized by Shelton and Eakin (2022), who examine the role of advocacy in pushing for equitable policies and practices in the energy sector. Their findings suggest that advocacy is often driven by concerns over environmental degradation and the inaccessibility of governance processes, highlighting the need for more inclusive and equitable decision-making frameworks.…”

Evaluating equity and justice in low-carbon energy transitions

“…One example is the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization Initiative that was designed to assist communities affected by the decline in coal mining and the retirement of coal-fired power plants, which ran from 2015 to 2020. Researchers have since examined the distribution of program resources using metrics such as proportion of total funding granted by region, project type, and career sectors (Shelton et al 2022).…”

“…Additionally, many reviews focus on energy justice as a whole, rather than considering the specific equity concerns of low-carbon energy transitions that we focus on in this review. Notable exceptions include a recent review of advocacy within energy justice and just transition literatures (Shelton and Eakin 2022) and a review that qualitatively synthesized the equity implications of the just transition (Carley and Konisky 2020).…”

Climate change, human rights and sustainability

“…Originating from civil society discourse and activism around issues of environmental and, primarily, labor/workers' rights, it is now inextricably linked to the equity and justice assumptions of climate action, as well to the implicit and explicit principles of equity in the UNFCCC (2010). This was explicitly recognized in the Paris Agreement (2015) and the Just Transition Declaration (2018) signed by 53 countries at COP 24, which recognized the need to factor in the needs of workers and communities to build public support for a rapid shift to a zero-carbon economy (Shelton and Eakin, 2022). The states, private sector and NGOs must explore innovative pathways to just transition (CSIS, 2021).…”