The Power Of Energy Justice The Social Contract

This open access book focuses on the energy sector and will make a significant contribution to its continued evolution. For many years, the energy sector has been missing a raison d’etre and now finally there are increased calls for that to be justice. Hence, this book will develop the concept of energy justice and how it needs to be formalised in a new ‘social contract’ with all stakeholders in society. The focus will be on improving legal systems at local, national and international levels while ensuring that justice is a core issue within energy law, the legal system and more broadly in society.

This book explores how the idea of justice can give us a way to better assess and resolve energy challenges and problems.

Energy justice is one of the most critical, and yet least developed, concepts associated with sustainability. Much has been written about the sustainability of low-carbon energy systems and policies - with an emphasis on environmental, economic and geopolitical issues. However, less attention has been directed at the social and equity implications of these dynamic relations between energy and low-carbon objectives - the complexity of injustice associated with whole energy systems (from extractive industries, through to consumption and waste) that transcend national boundaries and the social, political-economic and material processes driving the experience of energy injustice and vulnerability. Drawing on a substantial body of original research from an international collaboration of experts this unique collection addresses energy poverty, just innovation, aesthetic justice and the justice implications of low-carbon energy systems and technologies. The book offers new thinking on how interactions between climate change, energy policy, and equity and social justice can be understood and develops a critical agenda for energy justice research.

Energy justice has emerged over the last decade as a matter of vital concern in energy law, which can be seen in the attention directed to energy poverty, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. There are energy justice concerns in areas of law as diverse as human rights, consumer protection, international law and trade, and in many forms of regional and national energy law and regulation. This edited collection explores in detail at four kinds of energy justice. The first, distributive justice, relates to the equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of energy activities, which is challenged by the existence of people suffering from energy poverty. Secondly, procedural (or participation) justice consists of the right of all communities to participate in decision-making regarding energy projects and policies that affect them. This dimension of energy justice often includes procedural rights to information and access to courts. Under the concept of reparation (or restorative) justice, the book looks at even-handed enforcement of energy statutes and regulations, as well as access to remedies when legal rights are violated. Finally, the collection addresses social justice, with the recognition that energy injustice cannot be separated from other social ills, such as poverty and subordination based on race, gender, or indigeneity. These issues feed into a wider conversation about how we achieve a 'just' energy transition, as the world confronts the urgent challenges of climate change.

This book presents advances the importance of restorative justice in today’s energy transition across the world. It emphasizes the importance of a fair, equitable and inclusive shift towards a low-carbon economy. It recognizes climate change as the primary global challenge and advocates for an urgent and comprehensive energy transition where restorative justice is centrally utilised. Restorative justice focuses on identifying harm, assigning responsibility, protecting those affected, repairing damage, preventing future occurrences and providing a crucial foundation for seeking justice. It encompasses various forms of harm (economic, environmental, and social) and includes all stakeholders, including individuals, communities, and the environment. By providing a secure and structured platform for dialogue, restorative justice allows for diverse perspectives, challenging conversations and action for a just and sustainable world.

Offering a unique and critical perspective on energy justice, this Handbook delves into an emerging field of inquiry encapsulating multiple strands of scholarship on energy systems. Covering key topics including generation, transmission, distribution and demand, it explores fundamental questions surrounding policy, climate change, security and social movements.

This is an essential new work for anyone with a focus on the human dimensions of energy transitions and policy, climate change and sustainable development. It offers new thinking on how interactions between climate change, energy policy and equity and social justice can be understood.

This book re-conceptualizes energy justice as a unifying agenda for scholars and practitioners working on the issues faced in the trilemna of energy security, poverty and climate change. McCauley argues that justice should be central to the rebalancing of the global energy system and also provides an assessment of the key injustices in our global energy systems of production and consumption. Energy Justice develops a new innovative analytical framework underpinned by principles of justice designed for investigating unfairness and inequalities in energy availability, accessibility and sustainability. It applies this framework to fossil fuel and alternative low carbon energy systems with reference to multiple case studies throughout the world. McCauley also presents an energy justice roadmap that inspires new solutions to the energy trilemna. This includes how we redistribute the benefits and burdens of energy developments, how to engage the new energy ‘prosumer’ and how to recognise the unrepresented. This book will appeal to academics and students interested in issues of security and justice within global energy decision-making.