• Energy Research

The development of energy infrastructure in the Arctic poses serious far reaching justice based questions for local, regional and international communities. Oil and gas rigs, renewable energy sites, shipping and transportation all force us to reflect on how fair and equitable infrastructural expansion is locally and globally. We examine the justice claims of business, government and civil society in an attempt to understand current problems, and their likely solutions. The results suggest that we need to replace the current stakeholder-centred approach of energy policy, with one based upon justice. A widening of procedural justice to include not only the co-production of decisions, but also knowledge should be complemented with new ways of recognising the vulnerabilities of mis- and under-represented people, as well as exploring the sensitivities around proximity to new energy infrastructures.

This article acts as an editorial to a Special Issue that addresses energy policy failure which advances a range of solutions. These contributions and how energy justice specifically can address the issues are highlighted. Energy justice as a concept and with its five key principles of justice (distributive, procedural, restorative, recognition, and cosmopolitan) can contribute to transformative change which the articles demonstrate is already visible in some countries. This is highlighted here in this article with further examples in the case of the United States, Colombia, and South Africa. Further, given the scientific reports from the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change there is now an urgency about reform. Societies need to meet their energy and climate goals for 2030 and 2050. Infusing energy justice throughout the energy sector will deliver this together with a safer, fairer, equitable, and more inclusive world. This aspiration should be the same across the world as the continued failure of energy policies is a global challenge where we are all ‘world citizens’ in the battle for a just transition to a low-carbon econmy

In the course of the energy transition, flexibility on the demand side is crucial to balance intermittent supply from renewable energy sources. In Germany, however, a large part of the demand side flexibility potential remains unused, especially due to an outdated and inappropriate grid charges regulation. In this respect, policymakers have failed to align their regulatory instruments, e.g., grid charges, to the flexibility requirements of the energy transition. Moreover, regulatory and planning uncertainties regarding the long-term vision for future electricity systems inhibit flexibility investments – marking another policy failure. Although the above issues are known to policymakers for quite some time, too little has been done to further develop corresponding regulation. This policy inaction results from a decision-making dilemma, in which policymakers did not reach a solution that benefits all stakeholders involved in the grid charges debate (e.g., energy-intensive and less energy-intensive electricity consumers). Solving the policy failure in the form of a revised and future-proof grid charges regulation will, however, increase the prospect of a just outcome for society and, more specifically, recognition and cosmopolitan justice. In this paper, we outline how grid charges inhibit demand side flexibility in Germany and which policy failures have ultimately contributed to stuck political decision-making. We further provide concrete suggestions of how existing policy failures may be corrected in order to ensure a successful energy transition as a policy guide for Germany and other countries all around the world.

The term ‘just transition’ has increased in popularity in academic and policymaking literature over the last few years. This policy perspective tracks its development in policy over the period 2015 to 2020. An assessment of just transition policies to-date reveals staggered plans to phase out the fossil fuel industry and beginning with a coal phase-out. This type of just transition policy will derail the development of low-carbon economies worldwide. These policies through establishing just transition funds in 2019 and 2020 will result in subsidising the fossil fuel industry indefinitely given that coal, oil and gas will have to be phased out in turn. Proactive policy needs to be developed and finance re-allocated to deliver the just transition to a low-carbon economy. In essence a just transition policy overhaul is needed to complete revision if society is to achieve our Energy & Climate 2030 goals and targets.

Abstract Critical minerals will play a vital role in the energy transition. In South East Asia like in other regions across the world, there will be an additional advantage in that critical mineral development can contribute to an economic recovery and in time a green economic recovery. This article explores the role of justice in critical mineral development in the South East Asian region with a specific focus on Indonesia. The recent literature on critical minerals has a very limited focus on the role of justice in critical mineral development and this is even more so the case for South East Asian countries. This article provides a first account, utilising the JUST framework to explore, assess and quantitatively examine justice in the critical minerals industry in South East Asia and in particular, Indonesia. If the South East Asian region is to have a green economic recovery, there has to be a focus on achieving justice and reducing unjust outcomes. Indonesia provides strong examples for the potential of the industry and the development of policy to ensure justice, yet, it presents lessons for other South East Asian countries of the pitfalls in such ambition.

This short chapter provides a brief introduction to the key steps of how to reform energy law. Initially, there is a need to understand energy law and its origin and its relationship with other disciplines through the energy life-cycle. Then the article details the drivers of energy law, four recent positive developments, and finally the seven principles of energy law. Finally, there is a discussion on legal certainty and how it is developed through the application of the energy law principles and the recent new initiatives. As legal certainty will provide the platform for long-term change in energy sector through ensuring there is investment.

Society faces many challenges in promoting a just transition to a low-carbon economy, a transition that does not create or exacerbate injustices. Notably, the just transition can only be attained with new educational approaches which revolve around social, climate and environmental justice. This paper advances that for a just transition, the shift to a greener economy cannot be driven by the traditional neoliberal engine, which has captured educational practices. Rather, the necessary educational transformation needs the principles of critical pedagogy and the dimensions of justice provided by the JUST Framework. We bring these two important schools together and draw on the experience of the global periphery and Latin America in particular, to develop a unique theoretical framework that contributes to the literature on education for sustainable development. Therefore, this conceptual research provides a theoretical framework that should guide education for a just transition. This paper establishes what is referred to as CCR Education Framework which involves: Critical thinking about climate, environmental and social costs of fossil fuels; Coexistence with nature and the other; and Resistance against neoliberalism and other forces that jeopardise the just transition. The CCR Education Framework is a response to the question of what education needs to include to achieve a just transition. The paper also opens the discussion about the implications of the Framework in terms of teacher training and education and appropriate pedagogical approaches. The key theoretical advancements here is that education for the just transition must affirm the importance of teachers and students as agents of transformation, and promote critical educational practices and approaches which support the transition to a low-carbon economy, and which value the characteristics of justice (which include equity, equality, fairness, and inclusiveness) to build a curriculum that advocates sustainable growth and a societal just transition.