Summary
This resource concerns a conceptual framework for Energy Justice. This framework should enable us to determine whether certain developments in the energy system can be judged as "just" or ethically justifiable, or not.
The framework concerns:
- Distributive justice, where the question is how the benefits and burdens of energy supply and energy use are divided among groups of people. In other words, distributional justice highlights the ways benefits, risks and responsibilities are divided unequally throughout the energy system.
- Procedural justice, which poses the question of how the decision-making process for energy supply works, who has access to and participation in it and in which way. It represents a call to involve all stakeholders in decision-making in a non-discriminatory way. This could mean mobilising local knowledge for energy projects, disclosing information about energy consumption to facilitate more ethical and sustainable practices or achieving equal representation in institutions, for instance.
- Justice through recognition: to acknowledge who is being affected by energy decision-making and who is responsible for this. Note that Social, cultural, location and other aspects can structurally influence the exposure to benefits and burdens and the capacity to deal with them.. Recognition is also a precondition for trust and involvement.