Imagining a future without fossil fuels: From mid-transition to net zero in a New England environmental justice city

Abstract

The “mid-transition” - a state in the energy transition where fossil and renewable systems exist in parallel, is one point along the path to a net-zero future. However, if left to chance, the transition to net zero will likely be inequitable and not maximize societal benefits. Using a qualitative approach that incorporates community focus groups and interviews with technical policy experts, energy system specialists, and community activists, we investigate the challenges of moving past the mid-transition to a net-zero economy in our case study city of Holyoke, Massachusetts - which is both a post-industrial Environmental Justice city and boasts a municipally owned utility with the majority of generation being renewable. We analyze community members' perspectives on the energy system and energy transition goals at local, state, and national scales, comparing how these perspectives align and differ from those of experts and decision-makers of energy transition policy makers. Thus, exploring the tension between conceptualizing energy transition policies as a universal good and the challenges of its concrete, local implementation. We find a shared vision for a clean energy future, however, pathways to achieve this goal vary significantly. Policies to move towards net zero are experienced in households in ways that are sometimes unintended leading to divisiveness and ambivalence about climate mitigation policy. Finally, we present community visions for a preferred pathway along the energy transition through inclusive systems planning and policy recommendations to enable policy makers to find common ground and shared priorities with the people directly affected by policy change.