Controversy and Energy Justice

Technological and institutional changes to the energy system may give rise to societal controversy. In many cases, controversy ensues from the presence of two assessment trajectories: a formal trajectory that is embedded in the legal system and its jurisprudence and an informal trajectory that is based on alternative concerns and values. The emergence of an informal assessment trajectory can be characterized as ‘overflowing’ that occurs when people come to express concerns that are not covered in formal assessment, challenging the dominant frame. To understand the moral connotations of controversies, we will identify three justice-related attributes of the formal and informal assessment trajectories. These attributes are based on differences between the two trajectories in terms of 1) the way that values are expressed, 2) the dimension of energy justice that is taken as a starting point, and 3) the democratic legitimization of assessment trajectories. We will argue that to allow legitimate and effective decision-making on the energy system it is necessary to develop the capacity to learn from controversies, rather than trying to avoid or abate them.