Energy justice

Energy justice is a framework that seeks to advance the understanding of how various energy systems impact society and to ensure the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of energy systems, including production, consumption, and transition to renewable sources. The concept emerged from the broader field of environmental justice and integrates principles of fairness, social equity, and human rights into energy policy and governance. It is a rapidly growing research field and is increasingly used in academic, policy, and activist contexts to evaluate how energy systems affect marginalized and vulnerable communities. Energy justice emphasizes that transitions to cleaner energy systems must not reproduce existing inequalities, and that everyone should have access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy, along with a voice in shaping energy policy and infrastructure.

Background

The concept of energy justice rises from growing concerns over how existing energy systems affect and can worsen social inequalities. While conventional energy planning often prioritized technical efficiency or economic growth, energy justice brings attention to who has access to energy, who is most affected by pollution, and who participates in decision-making. It draws from environmental justice, which originated in the 1980s in the United States in response to racial and class-based disparities in environmental burden.

Relationship to environmental justice

Energy justice is a subset of environmental justice and shares overlapping concerns, particularly around pollution exposure, infrastructure siting, and access to decision-making. However, energy justice places greater emphasis on energy production and consumption systems including affordability, reliability, and participation in energy governance. While environmental justice focused broadly on environmental protection and equity, energy justice emphasizes on the specific injustices within energy systems from fossil fuel extraction to renewable energy deployment.

Core principles

Energy justice is typically understood through three main tenets, with some frameworks also including a fourth:

1. Distributional justice: concerns how energy-related benefits (e.g. electricity access, jobs) and burdens (e.g. pollution, infrastructure siting) are distributed across populations (‘who gets what’).
2. Procedural justice: refers to the fairness of decision-making processes and the ability of people to be involved in decision-making procedures in energy system infrastructures, technologies and energy planning, including who is consulted or allowed to participate in shaping energy policy.
3. Recognition justice: involves acknowledging and respecting different social, cultural, and economic needs, especially for historically marginalized or underrepresented communities in relation to energy systems.
4. Restorative justice: focuses on repairing harms caused by past or ongoing energy injustices, through compensation or structural change.

Applications and policy integration

Just Energy Transitions

Energy justice is increasingly used in discussions about just transitions ensuring that the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is inclusive, participatory, and socially fair. Trade-offs are common: job losses in fossil fuel sectors, for instance, must be balanced with training and employment in renewables.

Low-carbon energy transitions

Energy justice is increasingly applied to low-carbon energy transitions, particularly to ensure that policies like decarbonization or electrification do not exclude or burden disadvantaged communities. Without careful planning, even renewable energy can reinforce inequalities. For instance, when renewable energy infrastructures such as large-scale wind and solar farms are sited in poor rural communities without community benefit or input, adequate community consultation, the will raise concerns about procedural and distributional fairness.

Community and civic energy

Community energy projects, particularly those organized through cooperatives or municipal partnerships, are often viewed as tools to promote energy justice. These initiatives decentralize control, support local economies, and can be more inclusive of marginalized communities if properly designed.

International development

In the Global South, energy justice is critical for expanding energy access, particularly in remote and impoverished regions where centralized electricity infrastructure may be infeasible. Projects that support community energy and local governance often score better on energy justice criteria.

Policy and governance

• Governments and international institutions have increasingly begun to adopt energy justice frameworks to guide their climate and energy strategies. These policies aim to ensure that the benefits of energy transitions are shared equitably, and that historically marginalized communities are actively included in decision-making, funding allocation, and project development. Notable examples include:
  • United States: The Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative aims to direct 40% of federal investments in clean energy and infrastructure to disadvantaged communities, marking a major shift toward equity-focused energy policy.
  • United Kingdom: While national-level support has declined, local authorities and city councils have increasingly used their powers to promote inclusive community energy projects, particularly in regions with strong civic energy sectors like Bristol.
  • European Union: Energy justice principles have been integrated into EU-level discussions on energy poverty, particularly following the Ukraine war and related energy price shocks, which have intensified disparities in energy affordability and access.

Examples

Energy justice in the global solar PV supply chain

While solar energy is widely considered a clean and sustainable solution, energy justice scholars have raised concerns about the full lifecycle of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, especially regarding how and where the raw materials are sourced and processed.

Geographic Focus: Xinjiang, China; Democratic Republic of Congo; Global South (supply); Europe & North America (demand)

Environmental injustice in material sourcing

The production of solar panels depends on a range of critical minerals, including:

• Polysilicon (mainly from Xinjiang, China)
• Indium, gallium, tellurium, cadmium (sourced globally)
• Cobalt (largely from the Democratic Republic of Congo)

In many of these regions, particularly in parts of China and sub-Saharan Africa, mining and manufacturing processes cause significant environmental degradation, including:

• Groundwater contamination
• Air pollution from smelting and refining
• Land degradation and habitat destruction

These environmental harms often affect low-income rural communities, who have limited political power or means of resistance which is an example of distributional injustice.

Labor rights and recognition justice

Numerous reports have documented forced labor practices in Xinjiang, where up to 45% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon is produced. Human rights organizations have raised concerns about the exploitation of Uyghur Muslim minority groups in solar supply chains. This raises serious recognition justice issues, as the identities and rights of these marginalized groups are not only ignored but actively suppressed in global energy transitions that are otherwise branded as "green" and "ethical".

Global imbalance in clean energy access

The majority of solar panels produced in Asia are installed and consumed in wealthier countries such as Germany, the United States, and Japan. This creates a North–South divide, where:

• The Global South bears the environmental and labor costs of producing clean energy technologies
• The Global North enjoys the climate and economic benefits of these technologies

This situation exemplifies the international scale of energy injustice where even “green” technologies may perpetuate systemic global inequalities if not carefully governed.

Energy justice perspective

Energy justice scholars argue that climate policy and energy transitions must evaluate the full supply chain, not just the end-use benefits of renewables. Fair wages, labor protections, environmental safeguards, and equitable access must be incorporated into clean energy frameworks at all levels of the system from mine to module to market.

Energy justice in Bristol, UK

One of the most detailed applied studies of energy justice is found in Bristol, a city in southwest England with a dynamic civic energy sector where a network of community energy groups, municipal energy companies, and non-profits working on local energy transitions. In Bristol, energy justice perspectives were applied to assess local solar energy projects. While community-owned solar farms generated renewable energy and income, there were disputes over exclusion from planning processes. In one case, a solar array was installed near a low-income community without consultation, prompting concerns about procedural injustice. However, subsequent collaboration between energy cooperatives and local organizations helped to ensure fairer distribution of benefits and recognition of community needs.

Lawrence Weston & the Moorhouse Solar Array

• Context: Lawrence Weston is one of the most deprived communities in the UK. In 2015, a nearby solar project called the Moorhouse Solar Array (MSA) was developed by the community group Low-Carbon Gordano.
• Issue: Despite its proximity to the community, Lawrence Weston was not consulted during planning.
• Procedural Injustice: Community members described being excluded
• Outcome: This sparked criticism that the project had failed to recognize and include the most affected group.

Bristol Energy Co-op & Ambition Lawrence Weston

• A more equitable partnership occurred later, involving the Bristol Energy Co-operative and Ambition Lawrence Weston (a local regeneration organization).
• Together, they developed a 4.2 MW solar project, and importantly, ensured local participation.
• Distributional Justice: Profits from the project (~£155,000 upfront + £8,000/year) went directly to support local initiatives.
• Recognition Justice: This case recognized the community’s capacity and right to shape local energy transitions.
• The partnership serves as a model for aligning energy infrastructure with community development goals.

Energy justice policy in the United States – The Justice40 Initiative

The Justice40 Initiative is a landmark U.S. federal policy launched in 2021 under President Joe Biden's administration. It represents one of the most ambitious attempts to embed energy justice into national policy, by ensuring that the benefits of climate and clean energy investments intentionally reach historically marginalized communities.

Geographic Focus: United States (federal level, with localized impact)

The Justice40 Initiative mandates that at least 40% of the overall benefits from federal investments in climate, clean energy, energy efficiency, transportation, housing, and clean water must flow to disadvantaged communities. These include:

• Communities of color
• Low-income neighborhoods
• Indigenous communities
• Communities burdened by environmental pollution or climate vulnerability

The initiative is coordinated by the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council and implemented across agencies like the Department of Energy, EPA, HUD, and Transportation.

Procedural justice in practice

To fulfill procedural justice, Justice40 promotes community engagement and transparency through:

• Public consultation in federal project planning
• Interactive mapping tools (e.g. CEJST – Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool) to identify eligible communities
• Input from the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, made up of grassroots and academic voices

These efforts are meant to include previously excluded communities in decision-making around energy and infrastructure.

Distributional justice goals

Justice40 targets specific funding programs to address energy burdens and infrastructure gaps. Key areas include:

• Home weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades
• Community solar projects and grid resilience
• Electric vehicle charging infrastructure in underserved areas
• Air quality monitoring and remediation in polluted neighborhoods

For example, the DOE’s Communities LEAP program offers technical assistance to help disadvantaged communities plan and implement energy transition strategies.

Challenges and criticism

While Justice40 is widely praised, it also faces several implementation challenges:

• Agencies vary in how they define and measure “benefits”
• Some communities lack capacity to apply for and manage federal grants
• Critics argue that funding flows slowly, and that "benefit" is not always clearly tied to actual improvements in people’s lives

Nonetheless, Justice40 marks a major shift in federal energy and climate policy toward equity, and serves as a global reference point for institutionalizing energy justice.

Criticism and challenges

Critics argue that the concept of energy justice can be vague or inconsistently applied across contexts. Some also point to implementation barriers, such as conflicts with market-based energy systems or lack of regulatory frameworks for participatory governance. In addition, energy transitions framed around “prosumers” and the energy systems often governed by private utilities with profit motives conflicts with justice-based objective and can disadvantage those unable to afford technologies like rooftop solar panels. Additionally, the access gap still remains while many communities lack the capacity or resources to engage, even when participatory opportunities exist.

See also

• Energy Democracy
• Environmental Justice
• Just Transition
• Energy Poverty
• Community Energy

External links

• Energy Justice Network
• Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition