Energy Justice and the Renewable Transition: Addressing Inequities in Carbon-Intensive Regions

The global shift towards renewable energy is crucial in mitigating climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and ensuring a sustainable future. Yet, this transition is far from equitable. For carbon-intensive regions, where economies and livelihoods are tightly linked to fossil fuels, the renewable energy transition presents significant challenges. These regions face the risk of economic destabilization, job loss, and social upheaval. In this context, the concept of energy justice has emerged as a critical framework for addressing these structural inequities, ensuring that the benefits of the renewable energy shift are distributed equitably and do not exacerbate existing inequalities.

This article critically examines how energy justice principles can shape policies that address the unique needs of carbon-intensive regions and communities, while also ensuring a fair transition to renewables.

The urgency of the energy transition and related challenges

Globally, the push for renewable energy is driven by the urgent need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. According to Earth System Science Data, preliminary analysis of 2023 data indicates that emissions from fossil fuels increased by 1.1 per cent compared to 2022, reaching a total of 36.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023 (Friedlingstein et al., 2023). Governments, businesses, and international organizations have set ambitious targets to transition to cleaner energy sources. However, these ambitious plans often overlook the socio-economic vulnerabilities that are amplified by a rapid energy transition, especially in carbon-dependent regions.

Regions that are economically dependent on fossil fuels face particular challenges in the transition to renewable energy. Examples include the Appalachian coal mining areas in the United States, the tar sands region in Alberta, Canada, and the lignite mining areas in Germany. These regions typically have strong economic and social ties to carbon-intensive industries, which have provided jobs, infrastructure, and a social safety net for decades.

In addition, many of these communities are economically dependent on fossil fuel extraction and related industries. In areas like West Virginia in the U.S., or Western Macedonia in Greece, entire local economies have been shaped by coal mining. The decline of these industries, whether due to market forces, environmental policies, or the rise of renewables, can lead to large-scale job losses, declining tax revenues, and a deterioration of public services. This can trap these regions in cycles of poverty and economic hardship, exacerbating already existing inequities.

Western Macedonia in Greece offers a compelling example of these challenges. The region’s economy has long depended on lignite mining, which is now being phased out in favour of renewable energy. As Greece moves to eliminate lignite-based power by 2028, the region faces the loss of over 21,000 jobs, threatening local livelihoods and economic stability. According to a study on the region’s transition away from lignite mining, efforts to mitigate these effects include innovative rehabilitation strategies such as photovoltaic parks and sustainable land uses like agriculture and livestock farming (Pavloudakis et al., 2020).

Carbon-intensive regions have borne the brunt of the environmental and health costs of fossil fuel extraction. Communities near coal plants or oil fields are disproportionately affected by air and water pollution, leading to higher rates of respiratory illnesses, cancer, and other health problems. Research co-authored by UCL estimates that 18 to 21.5 per cent of global deaths annually can be attributed to fossil fuel pollution, a figure far higher than previously thought (Vohra et al., 2021). These regions, already suffering from environmental degradation, often lack the political or economic power to influence policy or seek reparations for decades of harm. The energy transition should ideally address not just economic inequities, but also the environmental justice concerns that have long plagued these communities (Cantoni and Brisbois, 2024; Sovacool et al., 2022). 

The role of energy justice

Energy justice is a concept that promotes the fair and equitable distribution of the benefits and burdens of energy production and consumption. It emphasizes fairness in energy access, affordability, and participation in energy decision-making. At its core, energy justice seeks to correct the imbalances that have historically marginalized certain communities in the energy sector. It is particularly relevant in the context of the renewable energy transition, where carbon-intensive regions are vulnerable to further marginalization if policies are not designed with fairness in mind.

The classical principles of energy justice can be broadly categorized into three dimensions: distributional justice, procedural justice, and recognitional justice (McCauley et al., 2013).[1]

1. Distributional Justice focuses on the fair allocation of energy benefits and burdens. In the context of carbon-intensive regions, distributional justice requires that the economic costs of transitioning away from fossil fuels, such as job losses and declining local revenues, are mitigated. At the same time, it calls for ensuring that these regions benefit from the opportunities created by the renewable energy sector, such as green jobs, new infrastructure, and technological investments.
2. Procedural Justice emphasizes the importance of fair and inclusive decision-making processes. Carbon-intensive regions are often excluded from national and global discussions about energy policy, despite being disproportionately affected by these decisions. Procedural justice calls for the active involvement of local communities, workers, and marginalized groups in the decision-making process, ensuring that their voices are heard and that they have a say in shaping their own energy future.
3. Recognitional Justice focuses on acknowledging and addressing the unique cultural, social, and economic identities of affected communities. In the case of carbon-intensive regions, this might mean recognizing the deep cultural ties that certain communities have to industries like coal mining, as well as the historical injustices they have suffered. Recognizing these factors is essential to designing policies that are sensitive to local needs and that do not perpetuate historical inequalities. 

Policy approaches to energy justice in carbon-intensive regions

To ensure that the global transition to renewable energy is both fair and just, policies must be crafted to address the specific needs of carbon-intensive regions. Below are some policy approaches that can incorporate energy justice principles:

1. Just Transition Funds: A number of countries and regions have established Just Transition Funds aimed at supporting workers and communities affected by the phase-out of fossil fuels. The European Union’s Just Transition Mechanism, for example, provides financial support to regions heavily reliant on carbon-intensive industries, helping them transition to a more sustainable economy. Such funds can be used to invest in job retraining programs, support for small businesses, and the development of new industries in these regions.
2. Green job creation and retraining programs: One of the most pressing concerns for carbon-intensive regions is the potential loss of jobs. Governments must prioritize policies that create green jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable infrastructure. Retraining programs should be designed to help workers in fossil fuel industries transition to these new sectors. This requires significant investment in education, skills training, and local economic development initiatives.
3. Community ownership and participation in renewable projects: Ensuring that communities in carbon-intensive regions have a stake in renewable energy projects can be a powerful tool for promoting energy justice. Community-owned solar and wind farms, for example, can provide local jobs, revenue, and a sense of empowerment for communities that have historically been excluded from the energy sector. Additionally, involving local communities in the planning and development of renewable energy projects ensures that these projects are aligned with local needs and values.
4. Environmental remediation and reparations: Many carbon-intensive regions have suffered environmental degradation due to decades of fossil fuel extraction. Policies must prioritize environmental remediation efforts, such as cleaning up polluted water and land, restoring ecosystems, and addressing long-term health impacts. In some cases, reparations for environmental harms may be necessary to ensure that affected communities can recover and thrive in a post-carbon future.
5. Policy coherence across levels of governance: Finally, ensuring energy justice requires policy coherence at local, national, and international levels. Carbon-intensive regions are often caught between conflicting policy priorities, with local governments seeking to protect jobs and industries while national and international bodies push for rapid decarbonization. Policymakers must work together across these levels to create integrated, just, and sustainable energy policies. 

Conclusion

The global shift to renewable energy offers enormous potential to combat climate change and create a sustainable future, but it also poses significant risks for carbon-intensive regions. Without careful attention to energy justice, the transition to renewables could deepen existing structural inequities, marginalizing vulnerable communities and exacerbating economic, environmental, and social challenges.

Energy justice provides a framework for ensuring that the transition is fair and inclusive. Through policies that prioritize distributional, procedural, and recognitional justice, we can ensure that carbon-intensive regions are not left behind in the energy transition but instead are empowered to thrive in a post-carbon economy. By addressing the unique challenges these regions face and involving them in the decision-making process, we can build a more equitable and sustainable energy future for all. 

References

Cantoni, R., & Brisbois, M. C. (2024). En route to decarbonization: A periodisation of just transition in four carbon-intensive EU regions. Geoforum, 154, 104061.

Friedlingstein, P., et al. (2023). Global Carbon Budget 2023, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5301–5369, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5301-2023, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5301-2023, 2023.

McCauley, D. A., Heffron, R. J., Stephan, H., & Jenkins, K. (2013). Advancing energy justice: the triumvirate of tenets. International Energy Law Review, 32(3), 107-110.

Pavloudakis, F., Roumpos, C., Karlopoulos, E., & Koukouzas, N. (2020). Sustainable rehabilitation of surface coal mining areas: The case of Greek lignite mines. Energies, 13(15), 3995.

Sovacool, B. K., Hess, D. J., Cantoni, R., Lee, D., Brisbois, M. C., Walnum, H. J., … & Goel, S. (2022). Conflicted transitions: Exploring the actors, tactics, and outcomes of social opposition against energy infrastructure. Global Environmental Change, 73, 102473.

Sovacool, B. K., Turnheim, B., Hook, A., Brock, A., & Martiskainen, M. (2021). Dispossessed by decarbonisation: Reducing vulnerability, injustice, and inequality in the lived experience of low-carbon pathways. World Development, 137, 105116.

Vohra, K., Vodonos, A., Schwartz, J., Marais, E. A., Sulprizio, M. P., & Mickley, L. J. (2021). Global mortality from outdoor fine particle pollution generated by fossil fuel combustion: Results from GEOS-Chem. Environmental research, 195, 110754.

[1] This list has been expanded to include cosmopolitan and restorative justice (Sovacool et al., 2021). However, these aspects are not covered in this article. 

About the Author: Roberto Cantoni, Senior researcher, IQS School of Management, Universitat Ramón Llull – [email protected]