Three Stages of Justice in the Fossil Fuel Industries

The importance of assessing energy industries through a justice framework has widely become recognised in recent years. Creating and using the energy justice framework by different scholars is a manifestation of this recognition. Much of the scholars' attention is, however, currently being applied to the energy justice framework on the renewable energy industry and attempting to design a ‘perfect’ and ‘just’ energy system. This author believes, as set out in this article, that a theory of justice must address and reduce injustices in any circumstances, rather than aiming only at the characterisation of so-called ‘perfect justice’. Over-emphasising on a zero-carbon future and overlooking the present reality means that we accept many other injustices that are associated with fossil fuels until the time when we can dispose of fossil fuels, which are ‘future-uncertainty’. In this article, the author, by analysing current data and information regarding the production of oil and gas and its consumption and reserves, as well as different scenarios towards the future of energy, argues that the dominant position of fossil fuels is not going to change anytime soon. Based on this reality, and recognising what are considered to be some inherently unjust features of the oil and gas industry, the author proposes three complementary stages for justice in the oil and gas industry; a perfect and just energy system that has zero-carbon and is decentralised is the final stage. The second stage is fair energy transitions, which emphasises a ‘just transition’ towards that desired future. The first stage, however, which is often overlooked, is applying the energy justice framework in the oil and gas industry to identify any injustices that can be reduced or limited.