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The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines

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The Challenge for Energy Justice

Abstract

Energy justice has taken on an increasing role and value within the energy sector and particularly in the research community where it is now a recognised interdisciplinary concept. This chapter presents a critical account of the emergence of the concept alongside a diagrammatical image of how in a normative way energy justice works from theory to practice. The chapter also explores energy education as well as some of the pitfalls of the energy concept to date.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This chapter is based on previous work completed for the following article and I thank the publisher and also my co-author Professor McCauley for permission for the adapted re-use of the information: Heffron, R. J. & McCauley, D. 2017. The concept of energy justice across the disciplines. Energy Policy, 105, 658–667.

  2. 2.

    Initiative for Energy Justice. 2019. The Energy Justice Workbook. Available at: https://iejusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/The-Energy-Justice-Workbook-2019-web.pdf (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  3. 3.

    Guruswamy L. 2016. Global Energy Justice: Law and Policy. West Academic Publishing: Minnesota, US; and Sovacool, BK and MH Dworkin. 2014. Global Energy Justice: Problems, Principles, and Practices. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK

  4. 4.

    Jenkins, K, McCauley, D, Heffron, R, Stephan, H & Rehner, R. 2016. Energy justice: a conceptual review. Energy Research and Social Science, 11, 174–182.

  5. 5.

    Energy Justice Network (US). 2016. Available at: http://www.energyjustice.net/about (last accessed 20 October 2016). And see more concerning its accomplishments, available at: http://www.energyjustice.net/accomplishments (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  6. 6.

    Centre for Sustainable Energy (UK). 2016. available at: https://www.cse.org.uk/contact (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  7. 7.

    Saunders, J. 2011. Energy justice—the policy challenges. Energy justice in a changing climate: defining an agenda, InCluESEV conference, 10 November 2011, London. In p.423, Hall, S. M. 2013. Energy justice and ethical consumption: comparison, synthesis and lesson drawing, Local Environ. 18 (4) 422–437.

  8. 8.

    Guruswamy, L. 2010. Energy justice and sustainable development, Colo. J. Int. Environ. Law Policy 21, 231.

  9. 9.

    Hall, S. M. 2013. Energy justice and ethical consumption: comparison, synthesis and lesson drawing, Local Environ. 18 (4) (2013) 422–437.

  10. 10.

    Bickerstaff, K., Walker, G. P. and Bulkeley, H. (Eds.). 2013. Energy Justice in a Changing Climate: Social Equity and Low-Carbon Energy. Zed Books, UK.

  11. 11.

    McCauley, D., Heffron, R. J. Stephan, H. and Jenkins, K. 2013. Advancing Energy Justice: The triumvirate of tenets. International Energy Law Review, 32 (3), 107–110.

  12. 12.

    Heffron, R. J. and McCauley, D. 2014. Achieving Sustainable Supply Chains through Energy Justice, Applied Energy, 123, 435–437.

  13. 13.

    Sovacool, B, Heffron, R. J., McCauley, D & Goldthau, A. 2016. Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns. Nature Energy, 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.24.

  14. 14.

    Jenkins, K, McCauley, D, Heffron, R, Stephan, H & Rehner, R. 2016. Energy justice: a conceptual review. Energy Research and Social Science, 11, 174–182.

  15. 15.

    McCauley, D., Heffron, R. J. Stephan, H. and Jenkins, K. 2013. Advancing Energy Justice: The triumvirate of tenets. International Energy Law Review, 32 (3), 107–110.

  16. 16.

    Heffron, R. J. and McCauley, D. 2014. Achieving Sustainable Supply Chains through Energy Justice, Applied Energy, 123, 435–437.

  17. 17.

    Sovacool, B, Heffron, R. J., McCauley, D & Goldthau, A. 2016. Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns. Nature Energy, 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/nenergy.2016.24.

  18. 18.

    Heffron, R. J. and McCauley, D. 2014. Achieving Sustainable Supply Chains through Energy Justice, Applied Energy, 123, 435–437; and Jenkins K, McCauley DA, Heffron RJ & Stephan H. 2014. Energy Justice, a Whole Systems Approach. Queen’s Political Review, II (2), pp. 74–87.

  19. 19.

    Popper, K. 2002. Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. Routledge Classics. (First published 1963, Routledge & Kegan Paul).

  20. 20.

    Kuhn, T. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL, US: University of Chicago Press.

  21. 21.

    Galaway, B. and Hudson, J. 1996. Restorative Justice: International Perspectives. Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press: NY, US.

  22. 22.

    Zehr, H. 2014. The Little Book of Restorative Justice. GoodBooks (Skyhorse Publishing): NY, US.

  23. 23.

    Sullivan, D. and Tifft, L. 2006. Handbook of Restorative Justice: A Global Perspective. Routledge: Oxford, UK.

  24. 24.

    Wietekamp, E. G. and Kerner, H. J. 2002; 2011. (eds.). Restorative Justice: Theoretical Foundations. Routledge: Oxford, UK.

  25. 25.

    Tromans, S. 2012. (2nd Ed.). Environmental Impact Assessment. Bloomsbury Professional Ltd: West Sussex, UK.

  26. 26.

    For more see: On Common Ground Consultants Inc. 2014. What is the Social License? Available at: http://socialicense.com/definition.html (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  27. 27.

    Heffron, R. J. et al. 2018. The emergence of the ‘social licence to operate’ in the extractive industries? Resources Policy, Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.09.012.

  28. 28.

    Prno, J. and Slocombe, D. S. 2012. Exploring the origins of ‘social license to operate’ in the mining sector: Perspectives from governance and sustainability theories. Resources Policy, Vol. 37 (3), 346–357; and The Guardian (Morrison, J.). 2014. Business and society: defining the ‘social licence’. 29 September 2014. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/sep/29/social-licence-operate-shell-bp-business-leaders (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  29. 29.

    Dondo, S. J. 2014. Financial Assurance for Mine Closure: A Regulatory Perspective from the Argentine Context. CSRM Occasional Paper, Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM), Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI), University of Queensland.

  30. 30.

    See the following literature: (1) International Business Times (Gallucci, M.). 2016. When A Coal Company Goes Bankrupt, Who Is Left To Clean Up The Mess? (last accessed 27 January 2017). Available at: http://www.ibtimes.com/when-coal-company-goes-bankrupt-who-left-clean-mess-2264097 (last accessed 1 May 2021); (2) The Guardian (Robertson, J.), 2016. Coal giants abandon unprofitable mines, leaving rehabilitation under threat. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/29/coal-giants-abandon-unprofitable-mines-leaving-rehabilitation-under-threat (last accessed 1 May 2021); and (3) Miller, C. G. 2005. Financial Assurance for Mine Closure and Reclamation. (International Council on Mining & Metals). Available at: https://www.icmm.com/document/282 (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  31. 31.

    Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) 1977. Available at: http://www.osmre.gov/lrg.shtm (last accessed 1 May 2021); and Financial Assurance under the Environmental Protection Act 1994. Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. Available at: http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/assets/documents/regulation/era-gl-financial-assurance-ep-act.pdf (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  32. 32.

    Bloomberg (Biesheuval, T., Riseborough, J. and De Sousa, A.), 2015. Why Bankruptcy Might Be the Mining Industry’s Last Best Hope (3 December 2015). Available at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-03/why-bankruptcy-might-be-the-mining-industry-s-last-best-hope (last accessed 1 May 2021) and ABC Australia News (Lannin, S.). 2015. China economist warns major miners may collapse in 2016 (18 December 2015). Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-17/china-economist-warns-that-iron-ore-miners-will-collapse/7037802 (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  33. 33.

    Times Higher Education. 2016. World University Rankings 2017. Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  34. 34.

    Times Higher Education. 2016. World University Rankings 2017. Available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking last accessed 30 October 2016.

  35. 35.

    UI Green Metric Ranking of World Universities. 2016. Available at: http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/overall-ranking-2015/ (last accessed 1 May 2021). And additional reports on this are available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/the-20-greenest-universities-in-the-world/2018495.article (last accessed 1 May 2021).

  36. 36.

    Duke, C., Osbourne, M., and Wilson, B. 2013. A new Imperative: Regions and Higher Education in Difficult Times. Manchester University Press: Manchester, UK. (see in particular, Chapter 7).

  37. 37.

    Orr, D. 1994. Earth in Mind: In Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect, Island Press, Washington DC.

  38. 38.

    Martin, S. and Jucker, R. 2005. Educating earth-literate leaders. Journal of Geography in Higher Education. Vol. 29 (1), 19–29.

  39. 39.

    Martin, J. and Samuels, J. E. (Eds.). 2012. The Sustainable University: Green Goals and New Challenges for Higher Education Leaders. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, Maryland, US.

  40. 40.

    Becker, E., Jahn, T., Stiess, I. and Wehling, P. 1997 (37). Sustainability, A Cross-Disciplinary Concept for Social Transformations, Management of Social Transformation Policy Papers 6, UNESCO: Paris, France—In Jones, P., Selby, D. and Sterling, S. (Eds.). 2010. Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice across Higher Education. Earthscan: London, UK.

  41. 41.

    This is revealed by checking the same universities as those in Sect. 2.4 in Table 2.1 conducted by the authors.

  42. 42.

    The Guardian, 2016. Seven climate records set so far in 2016. (17 June 2016—Adam Vaughan). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/17/seven-climate-records-set-so-far-in-2016 (last accessed 1 May 2021). This is just a newspaper report connecting to the issue—however, there are many international reports.

  43. 43.

    Mickelson, K. 2007. Critical Approaches. In Bodansky, D., Brunnee, J. and Hey, E. (eds.). 2007. The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law. OUP: Oxford, UK.

  44. 44.

    For more on this, see: Lyster, R. 2015. Climate Justice and Disaster Law. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.

  45. 45.

    Indeed, this is in part what happened to neoclassical economic thinking which rather than challenging and evaluated itself, instead too many economic researchers utilised and added to it, and as a result of an unchecked, or unquestioned or unevaluated ‘core’ it contributed in time to the financial crisis of 2007–2009.

  46. 46.

    Wittgenstein, L. 1958. Philosophical Investigations—we utilise this excellent example, having read that it is used in a similar way by other academics—from p. 15. Susskind, R. and Susskind, D. 2016. The Future of the Professions. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK.

  47. 47.

    Heffron RJ, McCauley D and Sovacool BK. 2015. Resolving Society’s Energy Trilemma through the Energy Justice Metric. Energy Policy, 87, 168–176.

References

  • Becker, E., T. Jahn, I. Stiess, and P. Wehling. 1997 (37). Sustainability, A Cross-Disciplinary Concept for Social Transformations, Management of Social Transformation Policy Papers 6, UNESCO: Paris, France—In P. Jones, D. Selby, and S. Sterling (Eds.). 2010. Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice across Higher Education. London, UK: Earthscan.

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  • Heffron, R.J. 2020. Justice in the Energy Transition. Special Issue ‘Decarbonisation Pathways for Oil and Gas’. The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, March 2020, Issue 121. Accessed 1 May 2021. https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/OEF121.pdf.

  • Heffron, R.J., and D. McCauley. 2017. The Concept of Energy Justice across the Disciplines. Energy Policy 105: 658–667.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, J. 2014. The Social License: How to Keep Your Organization Legitimate. UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prno, J., and D.S. Slocombe. 2012. Exploring the Origins of ‘Social License to Operate’ in the Mining Sector: Perspectives from Governance and Sustainability Theories. Resources Policy, 37 (3), 346–357.

    Google Scholar 

  • Times Higher Education. 2016. World University Rankings 2017. Accessed 1 May 2021. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking.

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    Raphael J Heffron

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Heffron, R.J. (2021). The Concept of Energy Justice Across the Disciplines. In: The Challenge for Energy Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80097-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80097-0_2

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