Which justice for energy justice?

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Abstract

Which justice for energy justice? At first glance, the demands of social justice in the field organizing energy systems appear to be contradictory. On the one hand, there seems to be a strong support of reasons derived from considerations of justice in favor of an energy system that relies on low-carbon sources. This is the case if we look from the perspective of justice between national states: especially those industrial states that benefit the most from greenhouse gas emissions should cover the costs of mitigating this development (polluter pays principle). This claim finds further support from the fact that these states are in a much better position to afford these measures and to deal with the consequences of climate change than those states of the global south that carry less responsibility and do not have the means to cope with the consequences of climate change (ought implies can principle). But from the perspective within the industrial national states, the findings seem to be the other way round: the costs caused by feed-in tariffs that guarantee profitable prices for producers of renewable electricity in the German energy transition are transmitted to consumers and place an over-proportional burden on lower income groups that have to pay a higher share or their income for satisfying their energy needs. This leads to the problem of fuel poverty. Those affected by fuel poverty therefore regularly demand to stop the energy transition because of the unjust burden it places on them. Now, it seems highly unlikely that the same concept - social justice - can at the same time and in the same respect do both, support and refute the justification of the energy transition. If this would be the case, social justice itself would be an incoherent, self-contradictory concept that is unsuitable to guide real-world debates and decision making. But this conclusion is premature since even these short remarks hint at different conceptions of justice and different respects in which justice can come into play that are worth to be distinguished in order to get a more solid grasp of the different roles justice plays in the field of energy production and consumption. The presentation aims at clarifying the role of considerations of justice in the realm of energy transition in two respects: First, it distinguishes the different justice-based arguments brought forward in debates on energy transition and tries to trace them back to different underlying (implicit) conceptions of justice. This step helps in getting a full-fledged account of the different respects of energy justice. Second, the presentation asks if the structure of the good in question - i.e. energy - demands a distinct account of justice. Is energy justice special in the sense that it needs its own principles of justice? Or is it just a field of application for those principles of justice we think provide the best general theory of justice - e.g. Rawlsianism, luck-egalitarism or the capabilties approach - and that are thought of being valid in all fields of societal organization?

Speakers from the University of Münster

Düber, Dominik

Centre for Advanced Study in Bioethics (Kolleg-Forschergruppe 1209) (KFG1209)