Human rights and energy justice

International human rights law contains no particular regulation or protection to right of access to energy (services). The access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all is set as the political goal in the sustainable development agenda, but in some context it is also discussed as the new human right. The right of access to energy accelerates in relation to ongoing processes of greening policies and the related issue of energy justice. The political and international discourse about energy justice is related to the different issues as production, distribution and consumption of energy, today and also in future. We estimate that access to energy is fundamental to meet basic human needs and existing human rights necessitates access to energy. This perspective frames the research focused on how the energy justice is conditioning the effective exercise of other rights guaranteed by international human rights treaties. The hypothesis predicts that the lower access to energy also limits the access to effective human rights protection, such as civil and political rights, but also social, economic, cultural and environmental rights. Moreover, the lower socio-economic status correlates with the increased encounter with the energy poverty, which contributes to further deterioration of the living conditions of already vulnerable population groups. Besides marginalisation of the opportunities for improvement of the livelihood, the energy poverty also hampers the human dignity. The gap created by the existence of the energy poverty or limited access to energy presents obstacle for governments to protect human rights and to fulfil positive obligation to protect its citizens’ human rights and fundamental freedoms. The qualitative analysis of the legal regulation and politics adopted in the European Union in area of access to energy should provide the proper response for setting strategies and implementing policies to effective system of human rights protection. Identification of the key factors in transforming system of human rights in the European Union within so-called greening processes and understanding the necessity to balance it with the energy justice may decrease the risk of the vulnerability of people living in the Member States of the EU in different regions. Furthermore, the growing risks of struggling people from fundamental rights may be increased due the limited or no access to energy, especially in extra-ordinary times as in global pandemics, when the green policies or human rights may be properly limited and justified.