Conflicting Justice Claims in the Energy Transition: Discourse Network Analysis of the Turów Lignite Mine Dispute

The justice perspective has become a common and useful analytical lens for examining energy issues (Jenkins et al., 2016, 2018; McCauley et al., 2013). A well-established body of scholarship on concepts such as energy justice and just transition offers distinct insights and policy-relevant perspectives (Sovacool et al., 2017; Sovacool & Dworkin, 2015). However, this literature also shows that different conceptions of justice are not always compatible. Energy justice and just transition may conflict with environmental or climate justice and may even lead to mutually exclusive prescriptions (Ciplet & Harrison, 2020; Evans & Phelan, 2016). Moreover, a rapid energy transition does not necessarily produce equitable outcomes; on the contrary, it may overlook affected stakeholders, introduce unjust procedures, and result in an unequal distribution of costs and benefits (Ciplet & Harrison, 2020). We examine these conflicting justice claims through the case of the Turów lignite mine dispute, an unprecedented conflict between two EU member states over the extension of mining activities (Lehotsky & Černoch, 2025). The dispute originated from deficiencies in the Polish environmental impact assessment, which triggered opposition from the neighboring Czech Republic and culminated in a Czech complaint to the Court of Justice of the European Union in February 2021. The subsequent litigation prompted both parties to seek a negotiated solution to avoid a prolonged legal dispute, resulting in an intergovernmental agreement that resolved the conflict in February 2022 (Ondráček et al., 2024). During the conflict, all involved actors sought to navigate the negotiation process and mobilize the broadest possible support by engaging in discursive struggles in the public arena. Claims related to different conceptions of justice formed an integral part of these dynamics. We therefore employ discourse network analysis of claims made in Czech national print media to examine the issue. Specifically, we analyze (1) which justice claims are articulated in public discourse, (2) which actors advance these claims, (3) how actors coalesce around them, and (4) how actors’ support for justice claims evolves over time.