This paper explores how the concept of energy justice can contribute to the UK’s transition to a sustainable and low-carbon energy system. Conceived as an alternative to state-centric thinking on energy security, energy justice is driven by aspirations for empowerment, social justice, and public health. First, the paper clarifies three major strands of energy justice – distributional, procedural, and recognition justice. Second, it employs these concepts to illuminate several core research questions about the energy transition. (1) Can we re-conceptualise the distribution of energy injustices in the UK through the use of emerging ‘participatory GIS’ (Geographical Information Systems) mapping. (2) Can sustainable energy law and policy-making be improved by radically increasing the transparency of both legal and bureaucratic procedures and of data-gathering exercises? (3) Can the politics of sustainable energy be reformed by explicitly recognising local groups’ concerns about energy projects and giving them equal status alongside other planning rationales?
