Beyond energy justice: Towards a just transition

This chapter reviews energy justice and related concepts from a futuristic perspective. It considers ‘what is next?’ for these concepts. In essence, the focus is on the impact of these concepts; the reality is that, in exploring next steps for these concepts, a more united perspective is needed so that scholars in three areas of justice scholarship can increasingly collaborate together. The main reasoning for this is that in the domain of climate, energy and environmental justice, all scholars to some degree have a common goal in terms of impact: all aspire to keep the world within the 1.5 degree Celsius limit in terms of global warming and all are working on the just transition to a low-carbon economy. This chapter, in reviewing critically some of the literature to date, highlights the ‘just transition’ concept and promotes this as a common path forward for increasing public understanding and public acceptance of a just transition to a low-carbon economy. In order to achieve this, these research communities need to unite rather than continuing alone.