Editing IPCC:AR6/WGIII/Chapter-17 (section)

=== 17.4.5 Equity in a Just Transition ===

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Energy justice, although increasingly being emphasised ( [[#Pellegrini-Masini--2020|Pellegrini-Masini et al. 2020]] ), has been under-represented in the literature on sustainability and in debates on energy transitions, and it remains a contested term with multiple meanings ( [[#Green--2020|Green and Gambhir 2020]] ). Energy justice includes affordability, sustainability, equality (accessibility for current and future households) and respect (ensuring that innovations do not impose further burdens on particular groups) ( [[#Fuso%20Nerini--2019|Fuso Nerini et al. 2019]] ). Furthermore, it suggests that a just transition is a shared responsibility among countries that are making more rapid progress towards net-negative emissions and those economies that are focused on pressing development priorities related to improved health, well-being and prosperity ( [[#van%20den%20Berg--2020|van den Berg et al. 2020]] ).

Looking at climate change from a justice perspective means placing the emphasis on (i) the protection of vulnerable populations from the impacts of climate change; (ii) mitigating the effects of the transformations themselves, including easing the transition for those whose livelihoods currently rely on fossil fuel-based sectors; and (iii) envisaging an equitable decarbonised world. Neglecting issues of justice risks a backlash against climate action generally, particularly from those who stand to lose from such actions ( [[#Patterson--2018|Patterson et al. 2018]] ), and it will also have implications for the pace, scale and quality of the transition. Explicit interventions to promote sustainability transitions that integrate local spaces into the whole development process are necessary but not sufficient in creating a just transition ( [[#Breukers--2017|Breukers et al. 2017]] ; [[#Ehnert--2018b|Ehnert et al. 2018b]] ).

Renewable energy transitions in rural, impoverished locations can simultaneously reinforce and disrupt local power structures and inequalities. Policy interventions to help the most impoverished individuals in a community gain access to the new energy infrastructure are critical in ensuring that existing inequalities are not reinforced. Individuals who are empowered by energy development projects can influence the onward extension of sustainable energy to other communities ( [[#Ahlborg--2017|Ahlborg 2017]] ). In Denmark in the 1970s, for example, grassroots windmill cooperatives opened a pathway to the creation of one of the world’s largest wind-energy markets. The unique dynamics of grassroots-led changes mean that new technologies and low-carbon initiatives develop strong foundations by being designed, tested and improved in the early stages with reference to the socio-political contexts in which they will grow later ( [[#Ornetzeder--2013|Ornetzeder and Rohracher 2013]] ).

Intersectional theory can shine a light on the hidden costs of resource extraction, as well as renewable-energy development (see, for instance, ( [[#Chatalova--2017|Chatalova and Balmann 2017]] ), which go beyond environmental or health risks to include the socio-cultural impacts on both communities adjacent to these sites and those who work in them ( [[#Daum--2018|Daum 2018]] ). Indeed, development decisions often do not properly integrate the burdens and risks placed on marginalised groups, such as indigenous peoples, while risk assessments tend to reinforce existing power imbalances by failing to differentiate between how benefits and risks might impact on certain groups ( [[#Healy--2019|Healy et al. 2019]] ; [[#Kojola--2019|Kojola 2019]] ). In some cases, such as the deployment of small-scale solar power in Tanzania by a non-profit organisation, an explicit gender lens on the impacts of energy poverty revealed the significant socio-economic benefits of improving access to renewable energy ( [[#Gray--2019|Gray et al. 2019]] ).

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