Energy Justice and Transitions in India: Between Security and Developmental Imperatives

Vineeth Daniel Vinoy and Dhanasree Jayaram
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Vineeth Daniel Vinoy: Manipal Institute of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India
Dhanasree Jayaram: Manipal Institute of Social Sciences Humanities and Arts, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India

Politics and Governance, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: India’s energy transitions present a distinctive case in global just transitions discourse, shaped by the intersecting imperatives of postcolonial (fossil) developmentalism, energy justice and security, and climate governance. This article examines how just transitions are conceptualized and operationalized in India through a thematic analysis of national and subnational policy documents, regulatory frameworks, and scholarly literature. It argues that India’s approach diverges fundamentally from prevailing just transitions frameworks, situating decarbonization within a broader architecture of energy sovereignty and distributional stability rather than an accelerated fossil fuel phase‐out. The article demonstrates that India invokes distributive justice selectively, prioritizing aggregate energy access while obscuring intra‐regional inequalities and displacing procedural and restorative justice claims through intermediary‐controlled governance and international climate negotiations, respectively. It examines how India’s energy transitions are influenced simultaneously by its domestic structural constraints and climate diplomacy. Lastly, it analyses both hard and soft infrastructures and reveals a transition pathway partially compatible with distributive justice but structurally constrained in advancing procedural and restorative justice for coal‐dependent communities.

Keywords: climate governance; coal; energy justice; energy security; India; just transitions; postcolonial developmentalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:poango:v14:y:2026:a:12250

DOI: 10.17645/pag.12250

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