Eco-social transition and energy justice in the EU

Abstract

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has put in a spotlight the issue of energy security in the EU. The transition towards securing the provision of energy in the EU has seen member states find alternative energy sources by arguing for nuclear energy or delaying the phasing out of coal industries. At the same time, EU member states have been facing the challenges of integrating the environmental and social objectives of the European Green Deal to achieve a climate-neutral continent by 2050 and to provide a just transition for European citizens and workers. The academic debate on these topics has burgeoned in the last decade with studies dealing with the social and economic dimensions of the green and energy transition as well as the environmental challenges to welfare systems while fragmented knowledge exists about the political transformations underpinning these processes and about the instruments and policies in place. At the same time, energy studies have delved into EU and member states’ concerns regarding energy security and energy efficiency while limited research has explored energy justice issues linked to the impact of climate change and energy policies on vulnerable communities and households. The panel brings together contributions that analyse challenges, trade-offs as well as potential synergies in integrating social (and justice) matters with energy and green transitions from different analytical and conceptual perspectives with the aim of sparkling discussions between energy scholars and eco-social scholars and advance the empirical knowledge of policies and instruments addressing this nexus.

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