If we are to have a realistic chance to avoid the catastrophic climate change, the ways in which we produce and consume energy will have to change dramatically. These changes will inevitably bring hardship to many people: rising prices for energy aggravates existing energy poverty; new energy projects have devastating impacts on people’s livelihoods and cultures such as wind turbines in traditional reindeer herding territory; and low-carbon technologies and energy appliances are often resource intense and have big environmental footprints from mining and disposal.

All these impacts have led to conflicts about and resistance against energy projects. In this Theme 2.0, we aim to explore these conflicts and analyse them through the lens of Energy Justice. This will enable us to highlight overlooked violations of justice and suggest ways in which these violations can be avoided or addressed. In addition, we will focus on a number of related theoretical concepts such as energy democracy, energy citizenship and just transition.

About the Theme

The  research team combines a wide number of different backgrounds and skills: engineering, social science, economics and law. Together we will discuss the topic from different perspectives to develop a research agenda that takes into consideration the justice impacts of entire energy systems.