An energy justice index for the energy transition in the global South

Maria Apergi, Laima Eicke, Andreas Goldthau, Mustafa Hashem, Sebastián Huneeus, Renato Lima de Oliveira, Maureen Otieno, Esther Schuch and Konstantin Veit

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2024, vol. 192, issue C

Abstract: In order to avoid dangerous climate change and to satisfy the global energy needs energy systems have to change. Hopes are especially high in countries of the Global South for the low-carbon transition to propel sustainable development. Yet, while the energy transition provides opportunities, it also raises questions on how to avoid new global inequalities. This study presents the first quantitative approach to measure the extent to which the energy transitions in the Global South incorporate elements of energy justice. In doing so, this study builds on a rich literature on energy justice that differentiates between distributional, recognition, and procedural justice, thus taking into account social and development objectives such as affordability and accessibility of energy, the inclusion of marginalised parts of society, as well as broader community involvement and participation. Though much important conceptual and qualitative work has been done, what has been lacking so far is a quantitative measure of the degree to which the energy transition lives up to the imperative of energy justice, going beyond the much-studied Global North. The proposed energy justice index is designed and applied to select countries from Southeast Asia (Malaysia), sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya), the MENA region (Jordan), and Latin America (Chile). The index stands the test of the empirical application and demonstrates significant variation between countries along the different dimensions of energy justice. The study also emphasizes the importance of further testing and of improving data quality for informed policy making of energy justice issues in the Global South.

Keywords: Energy justice; Energy index; Energy transition; Renewable energy; Global South; Three-core-tenets framework (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032123010961
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:rensus:v:192:y:2024:i:c:s1364032123010961

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.114238

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().