Delivering a timely and Just Energy Transition: which policy research priorities?

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of “energy justice” has attracted much attention and research effort. Although all policy issues related to energy justice are worthy of further study, the time constraints posed by the looming threat of climate change suggests the need for coordinated policy research efforts. At the current stage of development of European societies, we consider that four policy research strands might be most important in the light of specific evolving trends of European energy systems. Therefore, we propose these priorities as a shared research agenda for academic and policy researchers. In this article, we develop and discuss the following four research priority strands: (a) intergenerational justice and energy justice, (b) justice and energy vulnerability, (c) transformation of the social imaginary and energy infrastructure, and (d) damage, compensation, and energy infrastructure. For each topic, we highlight their critical issues and research opportunities. We conclude that these priorities are necessary not only to accelerate the energy transition but also to avoid negative impacts that climate change and the transition phase could produce on already established patterns of inequality.