From energy firms to communities: Beyond market-centric approaches for just policy impacts

In the context of government commitments to a just transition, private and commercial energy organisations are often the main actors entrusted with creating the pathways towards low-carbon energy systems. However, in this policy perspective, we bring original research from Ireland's energy transition into conversation with scholarly literature, including contributions to Energy Policy, to develop an applied and policy-relevant critique of this prevailing approach. This perspective is based on our research project which included interviews, focus groups and analysis of both academic and grey literature. We examine four key elements of energy system change – namely, the dynamics of energy sector firms, decentralisation, energy end-users, and energy systems thinking – to highlight important limitations in market-oriented models to achieving just transition policy aspirations. In doing so, we introduce a novel heuristic that underscores the need to move beyond firm-led just transition strategies to enable system-wide change. Based on this analysis, we propose a set of policy recommendations to chart the pathways towards transformative and just energy futures.