Where the power lies: Developing a political ecology framework for just energy transition

Abstract

This critical review lays down the fundamentals for rethinking just energy transition. It reviews the theoretical perspectives of energy justice, socio-technical transitions (STTs), and political ecology and presents a plausible and useful way to approach a just low-carbon transition using Political Ecology as a broad framework. This Political Ecology framework for Sustainable Energy Transition (PESET) addresses power issues associated with low-carbon transition, while also identifying the role of inclusivity and justice in low-carbon transition. As energy transition studies have primarily focused on the Global North and the extraction and production of large technologies, this framework provides a more radical means to achieve just transition objectives with particular relevance for application in the Global South—a region largely overlooked in transitions scholarship and where mundane/simple technologies (e.g. Solar Home Systems and clean cookstoves) typify transitions processes to date. The PESET framework presents a novel contribution, linking the concepts of energy justice, STTs, and political ecology to provide a more comprehensive means of framing and analysing just energy transitions. It thus provides a novel overarching framework linking energy studies, sustainability transitions, development studies and innovation studies especially in an era where the globe is moving toward a clean and affordable energy for all (Sustainable Development Goal 7).