Solidarity in Just Heating Transitions: Decarbonization Potential Through Cooperation in the Post‐Industrial City of Rotterdam

Erwin van Tuijl and Yogi Hale Hendlin
Additional contact information
Erwin van Tuijl: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Yogi Hale Hendlin: Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity Initiative, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Politics and Governance, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: In debates on energy transition governance, heating transitions are a major factor; yet limited attention has been paid to the various justice dimensions involved. To address this gap, we combine literature on multi-stakeholder governance in heating transitions with energy justice, drawing on insights from an empirical case study of the post-industrial city of Rotterdam to identify three solidarity modalities (institutional, economic, and civic) to analyze cooperation drivers within, and governance limitations hindering, just heating transitions. Our findings reveal how collective action problems related to just heating transitions (strict climate goals, a shortage of installers, and willingness to address energy poverty) drive cooperation through solidarity initiatives by all actors. However, coordination failures, distributional conflicts, and institutional rigidity present governance challenges hindering implementation of just heating transitions, suggesting that solidarity alone is insufficient to achieve results. Nonetheless, we argue that iterated practices of solidarity together with institutional coordination can present cooperation opportunities to aid self-organization in just-heating transition governance.

Keywords: energy poverty; heating infrastructure; just energy transitions; multi‐stakeholder governance; post‐industrial cities; solidarity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/12308 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:poango:v14:y:2026:a:12308

DOI: 10.17645/pag.12308

Access Statistics for this article

Politics and Governance is currently edited by Carolina Correia

More articles in Politics and Governance from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().