The energy justice principles and the energy communities

Anna Grignani, UPO

2024

Energy justice is a philosophical, ethical, and social movement that was born in the United States during the 1990s. In general, energy justice is a set of principles aiming to ensure a fair distribution of the benefits related to the production and use of energy. Energy justice consists of five sub-categories, which can be summarized as follows:

• Procedural justice: It requires that all relevant stakeholders are enabled to properly participate in the processes regarding the construction of energy infrastructures. Therefore, it is necessary that they have access to all relevant information and participate in the decision-making phase of the project.

• Distributive justice: It highlights the need to equally share the benefits and disadvantages of building and operating energy infrastructures. This concerns both the economic benefits—such as access to modern energy services—and social ones, connected to the effects of the spatial distribution of infrastructures.

• Recognition justice: It emphasizes the importance of considering different perspectives in the construction of energy infrastructures. These perspectives are influenced by a variety of factors, including culture, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, and income. Additionally, recognition justice aims to provide tools to denounce cases of mis- or de-recognition.

• Cosmopolitan justice: Moving from the idea that actions related to the environment produce global effects, which cannot be entirely controlled or circumscribed, cosmopolitan justice aims to guarantee the well-being and health of all human beings, regardless of their belonging to a specific group.

• Restorative justice: It is applied when the above principles have not been observed, with compensatory purposes. These aims can be pursued either through economic contributions to implement local projects with a high social impact or by setting up procedures for remediation to previous damages, restoring the affected area to its status quo ante.

After the publication of the fourth European energy package, called Clean Energy for all Europeans, the principles of energy justice are at the center of renewed academic and political interest. Within this regulatory framework, the EU Commission has approved the Just Transition Fund to support territories most affected by transition policies, ensuring that “no person is left behind.” Directive 2018/2001 introduced Renewable Energy Communities (REC), giving legal status to experiences already existing in most member states. A REC, as defined by Article 2, paragraph 16, is an autonomous legal entity formed by natural persons or legal entities, such as small and medium enterprises, public administrations, and local authorities, which produce, consume, store, and sell renewable energy. The main objective of RECs is to produce economic, environmental, or social benefits rather than financial profit. Participation is open and voluntary, including for people and families suffering from energy poverty, a condition affecting those unable to access essential energy services and products. A key characteristic of RECs is the territorial perspective, as members must be located near the energy project. This reduces energy losses during transport by minimizing the distance between production and usage.

Given these features, RECs are seen as one of the most promising tools to achieve the energy transition. This transition might leverage both energy citizenship and energy democracy. Energy citizenship is based on the rights and responsibilities allowing each citizen, through self-governance, to contribute to energy transition goals. Energy democracy is a grassroots process aiming to shift the energy market from technocratic governance to a more open and inclusive model, empowering consumers to organize energy production and share its benefits.

Ph. Friends of the Earth – Melbourne

Further readings and resources:

Jenkins, K., McCauley, D., Heffron, R., Stephan, C., Rehner, R. (2016). Energy justice: A conceptual review, in Energy Research & Social Science, 11.
Rescoop.EU (2022), Enabling frameworks for Renewable Energy Communities – Report on good practices. https://www.rescoop.eu/toolbox/enabling-frameworks-for-renewable-energy-communities-report-on-good-practices.
Schlosberg, D. (2007). Defining environmental justice: Theories, movements, and nature, Oxford University Press.
Sovacool, B.K., Martiskainen, M., Hook, A., Baker, L. (2019). Decarbonization and its discontents: A critical energy justice perspective on four low-carbon transitions, in Climatic Change, 155.