People, States, Power: Analyzing Energy Justice Regimes

Abstract

Despite not being around for long, the research agenda of Energy Justice has already demonstrated its potential to inform the way we approach planning, running and evaluating our energy systems. (Sovacool and Dworkin, 2015) Energy Justice is primarily concerned with the distribution of benefits and costs/ills associated with supplying and consuming energy, with fair representation of individuals, communities and groups in the decision-making process and with equal recognition of the perspectives of the existing social groups in the process. (Jenkins et al., 2016) At the same time, the scope of the concept continuously broadens as different energy challenges are framed as energy injustices and as energy systems develop and new injustices surface. (Ottinger, 2013; Miller et al., 2015) The panel seeks to advance our understanding of “Energy Justice” by accounting for the diversity of energy injustices and by introducing and critically evaluating the energy justice regimes that are in place to tackle these injustices. The panel gathers empirical contributions that demarcate and push the conceptual frontier of “Energy Justice”. It introduces issues such as the chronically omitted energy injustices, the role of socio-economic systems in creating and perpetuating unjust energy market settings, unequal wider economic consequences of the externalities associated with specific energy supply and consumption patterns, or the role of knowledge and trust in establishing new energy regimes.